


Amity's Caffeinated Cravings

by FreedomRiders



Category: The Owl House (Cartoon)
Genre: Addiction, Amity Blight is a Mess, Child Abuse, Coffee, Drug Addiction, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/F, Gay Disaster Amity Blight, Gay Panic, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Oblivious Luz Noceda, Shipping
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-17
Updated: 2020-12-23
Packaged: 2021-03-08 17:46:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 23,696
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27070684
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FreedomRiders/pseuds/FreedomRiders
Summary: Amity Blight is a mess. She's juggling everything from her parents' impossible expectations, her schoolwork and status as a Blight, and her horribly hopeless crush on Luz Noceda. When said crush introduces a human beverage, coffee, to Amity, she's willing to try it out. Unfortunately, a human drink may have unintended effects on a non-human witch.
Relationships: Amity Blight/Luz Noceda, Emira Blight/Viney
Comments: 91
Kudos: 516





	1. Chapter 1

\- _At Blight Manor_ \- 

Bright and early at 5:30 AM, Amity sat in front of her glamorous makeup mirror, combing her hair as she yawned. She wasn’t even dressed for school just yet, wearing underwear and a crumpled nightshirt. her Hexside uniform hung in the closet, ready for Amity to take and wear for class. The sun wasn't even half up yet, showing how early Amity had woken up. "Another morning of pain..." she mumbled before yawning, her hand with the comb drooping slightly before she woke herself up again, going bac to brushing.

Her mother, Odalia Blight, came over to her daughter with a cup of warm water and a small sponge while Amity was brushing her hair. “Hold still,” she said as she semi-gently pulled her daughter’s head to face her. Before Amity could protest, her mother started dabbing her face with the sponge, her eyes, nose, and mouth getting splashed with warm water. She pulled away a few seconds later, sputtering and coughing as her mother continued to sponge her face. “There, now go back to tidying up, you’re going to be late,” Odalia said as she left the room. Amity frowned as she looked at her hair. She had to comb and tidy up all over again. 

Ten minutes later, a properly showered and dressed Amity made her way to the dining table, where a bowl of expensive and fancy looking oatmeal waited for her. At the table sat her father, Alador Blight, eating his own breakfast. He was munching on a piece of toast spread in black jam while reading the newspaper.

She didn’t see her siblings at the table, which was a small bit of luck on her part since they would most likely make her already insufferable morning even harder to handle. Given that they didn’t have a zero period study hall in school like her, they could afford to sleep in another half hour before they had to get ready for school. Amity quickly ate her breakfast in the span of 2 minutes, putting her bowl in the sink and washing down her breakfast with a glass of cold water before quickly hurrying to the door where her schoolbag was.

Her father looked up and cleared his throat, making her stop. “Have a good day at school,” he said. “And make sure not to forget your lunch again.” Amity flushed and hurried back to the kitchen to grab her smaller lunch bag before hurrying out.

As she made her way to school, she wondered how long she’d done this routine. Waking up extremely early, only to spend a few hours struggling to pay attention, despite the ‘top student’ front she put up every day. It was getting harder and harder to handle classes, with her parents demanding her to put more hours into studying herself in perfection, while juggling extra credit assignments and spending time with her friends. She was getting less than 6 hours of sleep a day now, especially with exams coming up.

Amity’s nerves would overload her brain, giving her an equivalent to anxiety attacks in classes. Hiding them was hard to do as well, especially when Boscha and her goons were now on the lookout for any ammo they could use to embarrass her after ditching the Grudgby team captain and her gang.

It was fairly safe to say that Amity was losing it. The only thing that was keeping her sane was the thought of the human. Luz Noceda, a cute and very pretty human girl who came into her life and gave her one thing she needed, friends. As cheesy as that sounded

After ditching Boscha and the others for Luz, Willow, and Gus, Amity never felt happier to be in a group. She and Willow were slowly rekindling their friendship, and she was getting closer and closer to her crush, Luz Noceda. No amount of stress would take that value away. Amity let herself smile softly before yawning as she came into view of school.

\- _At the Owl House, 45 minutes later_ \- 

It was super early in the morning, King yawning as he lay on the counter after Luz carried him there. As he lazily opened his eyes and looked up, he saw Luz at a strange machine, taking out a pot from the machine and heading towards the counter. "Morning..." he mumbled tiredly.

"Morning, ya little munchkin," Luz said as she put down the pot near King, the steaming black liquid bubbling inside. King stared at the strange substance through the glass wall and its strange lines. “Hey, what kind of potion is that stuff? And where did you get it?” the little fluffy demon asked, tilting his head.

“Oh, it’s not a potion. It’s coffee,” Luz said as she tipped the pot over, a stream of that black liquid pouring into a mug, wisps of steam blowing out. “Eda found the machine and a container of it, in her stash of stuff. The machine was still working, and the coffee is new, so I thought I’d make some.”

“What’s Kaw...Fee?” King asked awkwardly, as Luz internally cooed at the adorable attempt in pronunciation, as she went over and opened the refrigerator.

“It’s a hot drink popular back in my world. We drink it if we’re too tired or plan on working or staying up later. Gives us a boost of energy,” Luz explained as she took out a few other things from the fridge. “I’m surprised this stuff is this new. I'm guessing this was the last stuff Eda got before...I blew up the portal.”

King looked away, remembering how hard it was for Luz to tell Eda about the loss of her only way back home. “What about that stuff?” King asked, looking at the other stuff Luz took out of the fridge.

“Creamer, milk, sugar, whipped cream, and chocolate bars,” Luz explained as she looked at what she managed to scrounge up. “Everything you need to make your cup of coffee perfect. Well...I might not be using the last two, actually...”

“Ooh, I want some!” King demanded as he reached over and tried to grab the mug of black coffee, only to yelp in pain as the hot ceramic burned his little paws. "Ow, it hurts!" he whimpered.

“It’s hot,” Luz warned, taking the coffee mug by the handle, and away from King's reach. “And if you drink this, you won’t be able to nap, you’d be too awake to sleep. Plus you'll end up being too energetic, which is probably something Eda doesn't want.”

“But...chocolate and drink...” King whined pitifully as he reached his little paws for the cup, now out of his reach.

“Sorry King. I’ll make it up to you with cuddles and pets after school,” Luz promised, rubbing the depressed fluff ball on the head softly. “But Eda wanted to try some, so I’m making some for me and her.”

“You called?”

Luz and King turned to see a sleepy Eda trudging her way to the table. “Right!” Luz said as she held out the mug to her mentor. “Here you go. A fresh cup of...” She looked to the large brightly colored coffee bag on the counter. "Dunkin' Donuts Original Blend."

Eda took the mug and looked down at the steam rising from it. After she blew on the steaming liquid for a few seconds, she took a little experimental before coughing violently. “Blehh...” she said.

“Yeah, black coffee is bitter, but if you want, I could add cream and sugar-“ Luz offered before Eda cut her off with a raised hand.

“Nah, I’m not too bothered by the taste. I’m just used to the apple blood,” Eda said before taking another longer sip. “It isn’t that bad anyway.”

“That's good. Umm, how’s Lilith?” Luz asked in concern.

“She’s doing OK. The curse has been pretty nasty in her, she spent the whole night crying after turning back,” Eda said, eyebrows furrowed in worry for her older sister before sighing to herself. “Hopefully she’ll get used to it soon.”

“Want me to save some coffee for her?” Luz offered kindly.

“Yeah, just in case she’d be interested. So, what’s this stuff do?” Eda asked, looking back down at her mug.

“Oh, it helps wake you up, so you aren’t so tired to the point of being a zombie in the morning. You know, like-” Luz said, before letting out a dramatic zombie moan as she flailed her hands to visualize her point. "-in the morning."

“Ha, good one kiddo. Oh...ooh, wow, I feel that,” Eda said, her heterochromia eyes now wide as she set the mug down. “Wow, this stuff actually works. You sure this stuff ain’t a magic drink? Some potion you learned in class or something?” she asked as she looked at the 2/3rds full coffee mug.

“Nope. Caffeine and energy only, well...those two are practically the same thing anyway,” Luz said as she poured her own cup of coffee, before drizzling in some creamer and sprinkled some sugar into her cup.

“Now that looks like light chocolate,” King said before making his way to Luz. “I want it...”

“Sorry, King. Not sure how coffee will affect you,” Luz said. “I don’t wanna hurt you.”

“Wait, then why does Eda get to have it? You never know if human stuff can hurt witch stuff!” King said.

“King, just relax. I’m fine, see?” Eda said as she sipped her coffee lazily. “Mmm, not bad.”

“It won’t hurt me! Now, I demand that kawfee! Give me a cup or suffer the consequences!” King demanded childishly, standing up and pointing at the mug in Luz‘s hand.

Luz just reached over and pecked King on the forehead before guzzling half the mug down in quick succession, just as the glass ball blared red, the alarm going up. “Sorry, I have to go!” she said as she poured the rest of the coffee and a generous amount of cream and sugar into a silver thermos that said ‘Don’t Talk To Me Until I Had My Coffee’ on it. “Don’t let King drink my mug, and save the rest for Lilith!” Luz said to Eda as she opened and hurried out the door with her things.

“Hey, Luz! How was your mor-“

“Hi Hooty bye Hooty!” Luz yelled as she raced off, the loud owl tube’s voice being cut off by the door slamming.

Eda finished her mug and grabbed Luz’s mug. She set it on top of the cupboard, much to King’s dismay and chagrin before grabbing her Owlbert staff. “Luz, I’m your ride, remember?” she called exasperatedly as she made her way outside to catch up to Luz.

King just looked at the mugs now out of his reach and just squealed loudly in anger and defeat, stamping his little foot. “I’ll get that coffee if it’s the last thing I do!” he proclaimed before yawning. “But first...nap...”

\- _At Hexside Academy , 10 minutes later_ \- 

Eda dropped Luz off at the courtyard, saying a quick goodbye and good luck before heading back to the Owl House. Luz made her way to the entrance, where she reached the waiting Willow and Gus duo near the stairs. “Hey guys!” Luz said, coming over. “What’s going on?”

“Nothing new, just waiting for you,” Willow said as she stretched her arms. “Cutting it kinda close, are we?”

“Had to make coffee for Eda,” Luz explained, grinning widely. “So, how bout you? How’d you sleep?”

“Um, good,” Gus said, raising an eyebrow. “Hey, are you OK?”

“What do you mean ‘am I OK’? I’m cool, excited to learn about today’s classes, come on, let’s get to class,” Luz said in the span of 1.2 seconds.

“Well, you seem weird,” Willow said, before clearing her throat and rubbing the back of her head. “More weird than usual.”

“Hmm...” Luz said as she took out her thermos and screwed the cap open. “Could be all the coffee I drank earlier.”

The smell that drifted out made Willow and Gus drool. “Whoah, that smells really good...” Gus said. “What’s this coffee?”

“Umm, it’s an energy drink. You drink this super early to wake up easier. Plus your attention span gets more attention,” Luz said. “It’s a picker-upper.”

“That sounds super useful,” Gus said as he whipped out a notebook out of nowhere, with the title " _Human Appreciation Club Notebook_ " on the cover. “Humans also created drinks and substances to help with their daily tasks such as waking up,” he muttered as he wrote down what he was currently saying

“Sounds like a hassle, but it does smell good,” Willow said as she took a deep breath.

“Yep, we’re geniuses like that,” Luz said as she took a small sip. “Want some?”

“Hmm...maybe later. I don’t think I need a picker upper right now,” Willow said. “Thanks for offering, though.”

“I’d have some but I’m already awake,” Gus said. “How about I come to school extra sleepy tomorrow?”

“Sounds good!” Luz chirped as she closed and put her thermos away before bouncing up the stairs. “Come on, let’s get going.”

Luz jumped into someone else by accident, both of them yelping in surprise as they tumbled down the stairs, landing painfully on the pavement.

“Ow! Watch it you-LUZ!” Amity spat out before her voice rose a dozen octaves higher in embarrassment as her face burned a bright red. She jumped to her feet in order to help her crush stand up. "S-sorry about that, are you OK?"

“H-hi,” Luz said as she grabbed Amity’s hand, pulling herself up and dusting herself off. “My bad, shouldn’t have jumped into you. So...crazy morning?”

“Y-y-yeah!” Amity stuttered, giggling nervously as she tousled with a lock of her hair. “Super early and...tired...zero period was a pain.” She ignored Willow and Gus’s stares at the back of her head as she focused on Luz in front of her.

“Huh. Sounds like you need coffee,” Luz said, dramatically spinning and yanking out her thermos. Amity raised an eyebrow as the human girl offered her thermos, unscrewing it and releasing the aroma once again. Amity’s eyes widened as she smelled that sweet, beautiful, and tempting smell. “I-what's coffee, exactly?” Amity asked as she looked into the thermos.

“Oh, it’s an energy drink made by humans,” Gus explained. “Helps you wake up easier. Plus it enhances your attention span.”

"Energy drink? That sounds...useful," Amity said, as she looked away awkwardly.

“Come on, try it,” Luz offered, holding out the thermos to Amity. "You look like you kinda need it, no offense." Amity took the thermos, smelling the coffee inside it before slowly tipping the container.

As the hot and sweet liquid flowed down her throat, Amity’s eyes widened. Her entire body suddenly felt warm, and her heartbeat quickened at a higher rate than usual. She now felt more awake, energized, wary, and more importantly, more focused. Amity stared down at this miracle drink in her hands, pupils slightly dilated. She probably shouldn’t have felt the way she did, but it felt good and she didn’t care. "Wow...this stuff tastes great! I feel more awake already," the green haired witch remarked, looking down at the coffee.

“Wow, coffee doesn’t work that quickly, but hey, that’s all the better to wake yourself up with, eh?” Luz joked to herself, before Amity tipped the thermos up again, taking larger gulps and unknowingly taking over a half of the entire thermos.

“Wow. Looks like you really needed that,” Gus said.

“I’ll say,” Luz said, watching in confusion. Amity looked down and realized over 3/4ths of the thermos was now empty.

Amity bushed brightly in horror as she quickly gave the metal drink container back in Luz’s hands. “OhmytitanI’msosorry!” Amity cried in embarrassment. “I didn’t mean to drink so much, I was just so tired and-“

“It’s cool, it’s kinda extra for later. Not that I usually need it. I’m not sure about the rules in bringing drinks to class, so it’s best to finish it early for that better boost of energy,” Luz said before the bell screamed. “Well, gotta go! See you later!”

“See you at lunch!” Willow said as she headed to her class, Gus hot on her heels. Amity said her own goodbyes and headed off to her own classroom, feeling warm and jittery.

“Whatever that drink was...I need more,” Amity said to herself. “I haven’t felt this good in...ever!” Maybe Luz had some kind of potion recipe that could let her make her own coffee. It would definitely help with school, and that kind of help was just what she needed with the incoming exams that were coming up.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Amity was having a great day. Her abominations classes were going extremely well, having taken 100% of all notes in class and performing her spells with superb results, enough to earn her “Top Student” badge back from the professor. She was even walking with a little skip in her step, which the “refined” and “professional” Blight would never do.

In the few minutes between classes, she found herself not as sluggish as she’d been before. While that wasn’t saying much to others, since Amity always looked professional and awake to some degree, it meant a lot to the witchling, who had to fake her sleepiness every day. Now it was lunchtime, where she headed over to the table with Luz, Willow, and Gus sitting at it, with a bright smile on her face. “Hey guys!” she said. “Mind if I sit here?”

“Wow, someone’s in a good mood. And sure,” Luz said, winking at the green haired witchling as she leaned on the table. “So, what didja see that’s making you so happy?”

Amity blushed nervously at the wink before falling back on her earlier positive attitude when remembering class earlier. “Well...it’s been a good day so far, so there was that,” she said. “I earned my top student badge again, and I definitely aced that quiz!”

“Good for you,” Willow said, smiling earnestly at her former-but-getting-back-together-friend.

“Thanks for that...umm, coffee earlier, Luz,” Amity said, scratching the back of her neck, right under her undercut. “It really helped”

“Sure thing,” Luz said, giving a thumbs up to Amity. “I could bring more tomorrow if you want, since your sister said you always come here for zero period. Which...I’ll be honest, I’m not sure I can even comprehend how early that is.”

“Really? That’d be great!” Amity said, before clearing her throat and dimming her excitement a little bit. “That is, if it’s me too much trouble for you to make.”

“No problem whatsoever,” Luz reassured before shuddering. “I can’t imagine waking up so early. I guess even mornings are a struggle in the Boiling Isles.”

“She’s been doing it for years,” Willow chimed in, peeking over to the two girls. “I’m pretty sure you don’t get used to that.”

“Y-yeah...it gets harder every day,” Amity said, before looking at them awkwardly. “Especially with extra credit assignments and exams coming up. I haven’t been able to read to the kids at the library as long as I usually do.”

“Aww...they understand, right?” Luz asked.

“Yeah,” Amity said. “Braxus was sad though.”

“Awww...how about the next time there’s enough reading time at the library, we could go read to the kids? That would make Braxus happy, right?” Luz offered.

“I...I’d like that,” Amity said as she smiled shyly, to which Luz returned a full beaming grin at her.

“Yeesh,” Gus grumbled as he crossed his arms with a pout. “I didn’t need to remember exams coming up. Thanks.”

“Wait, aren’t you one of the best illusions students out there?” Luz asked. “Why are you so worried about exams if you’re that good already?”

“Yeah, but you can’t have an illusion of yourself taking a big test for you, especially when the illusions professor is constantly on the lookout for cheating. Cus...you know, illusions. And I don’t wanna take the test. Even though I could pass,” Gus said, leaning back in his seat.

“So it’s more of the time and effort you’re worried about and not your grades,” Willow deadpanned. Gus chuckled nervously before sighing and looking down.

“Well, I’m confident I’m gonna ace my exams. After all, we have a whole week to study, right?” Luz said as she rubbed stretched her arms.

“Yeah,” Amity said before twiddling her thumbs under the table, her cheeks slightly tinted pink. She could practically feel Willow’s gaze on her as she spoke up once again. “So...did you wanna study together sometime or...”

“Of course!” Luz said, enthusiastically. “Wanna go to the library?”

“Y-yeah! So...after school today? I-if not, you could always pick another day, you don’t have to make time now if you need to do something, I was just offering...” Amity blurted out. “O-or no, you aren’t obligated to study with me, you could always study the best way you could, which could be alone or a study group, or just a sort of practice quiz for preparing, cus preparations is...heheh...”

Willow let out a little “ _snrk_ ” at Amity’s ranting, as Gus tilted his head in confusion. “Looks like that coffee did more than wake you up,” he said, making Amity’s entire head, ears, and neck glow a very dark red blush.

Luz seemed unfazed by Amity’s cringeworthy awkwardness and utterly obvious embarrassment, by some miracle, and just giggled innocently. “Well, I’m actually free to go to the library today, to do some...research.” Her demeanor dropped a little, in which Willow and Gus looked away awkwardly.

Amity seemed a bit confused, but paid it no mind. “G-great!” Amity said. “Um, I’ll see you after school in the courtyard?”

Luz grinned widely and nodded. “See ya there, bestie!” she said, just as the school bell rang/screamed. As students began cleaning up and clearing out of the cafeteria, Amity quickly hurried to her next class, eager to get over her embarrassment and start her new lesson. Nearby, two sea green haired teens noticed her hurry off, before exchanging curious expressions.

\- _At the Owl House_ \- 

Lilith Clawthorne was in pain. Her first transformation was one of the worst feelings she had ever felt in her life. Despite comfort from Eda, she still felt an insurmountable amount of guilt over her actions, both in cursing her and the years of chasing and pain that came after.

She was hunched over the toilet, gasping and coughing as she hacked out the last of the pillow she’d eaten in her first beastly rampage. Her dress was torn and her eyes were bloodshot, her hair being very messed up and going all over the place. Tears were welled up in her hurting eyes as she choked out another sob.

“Hey, you alright in here?” Edalyn asked, knocking on the door, before opening it without waiting for an answer. Upon seeing the state of her older sister, she winced. “Yeesh...”

“How...how do you handle these transformations?” Lilith gasped, as she wiped her eyes feebly. She couldn’t look at Edalyn, she probably seemed weak to her, not being able to handle a night of being half cursed compared to the years Edalyn went through on a full curse.

“Well...I don’t. Most of the time, I had elixir. Though recently, that hasn’t been enough,” Lilith’s younger sister said before patting her on the back. “But hey, now that the curse is half and half, maybe elixir would work. After all, two halves is better than one...whole...curse.”

Lilith looked up at Edalyn with the most heart wrenching expression she’d ever seem, which was only amplified by the horrible state she was in. Edalyn winced and looked away. “Jeez, don’t look at me like that...” she said. “Alright, Luz made coffee earlier, you might want some.”

Lilith coughed before getting up, rubbing her face exhaustedly. “What’s...coffee?” she asked.

“Look, just clean yourself up and come to the kitchen,” Edalyn said as she turned around and left. Confused by her cryptic response, she just went to the sink, turning the faucet to clean up her face.

She changed into one of her sister’s dresses, which was a bit asymmetrical and a size and a half too large for her. She didn’t know how Edalyn pulled off such outfits, but it obviously didn’t work for her.

When she came down a few minutes later, she saw a cup waiting for her on the counter. As she made her way there, she spotted her sister working at the stove, cooking a pot of...something she wasn’t sure she knew. 

“Drink up. Luz made it,” Eda said as she stirred the pot. Lilith looked down to the cup of black liquid and picked it up. It was warm, and the smell was nice, yet foreign. Taking a sip, she coughed and hacked at the bitter, almost blackened and burnt taste.

“What is this?” Lilith asked, choking for breath.”It tastes like...like hot soap or something.”

“You tried that before, huh?” Edalyn asked as she kept cooking. “Yeah, the kid mentioned you could add some stuff. Creamer or sugar or whatever she was talking about. That stuff.”

Edalyn pointed to the counter, and Lilith saw the bottle of cream, which said “Half and Half” on it for some reason, as well as sugar. She added a bit of both, and took anothr sip. Sighing, she leaned back against the wall as she processed the more bearable taste.

“Where’s the human?” Lilith asked when she finished swallowing.

“Her name is Luz. Luz Noceda. Please stop calling her a human,” her sister said, letting out a tired sigh. “In case you haven’t noticed, we were ‘pardoned’ by big bad Belos, and Luz is going back to Hexside for classes.”

“I see,” Lilith said as she looked down at her cup, the warm darkish brown liquid sloshing inside. “What is this drink called again?”

“It’s called coffee. Sort of a morning drink for helping people wake up in the morning, I think. That’s what Luz said,” Edalyn said, slowing down her stirring of the pot. “Do you feel more awake?”

Lilith wiped her eyes. “Not...not particularly. But, I do feel a bit better,” she said before yawning. “I guess that transformation took a lot out of me.”

“Yeah,” Edalyn sighed. “The curse tends to do that. I’ll grab some more elixir at the night market later.” Lilith’s eyes widened as her head whirled to face her sister.

“Edalyn! The night market? You know how dangerous that is, especially with the kinds of criminals and smugglers and illegal goods they sell there,” Lilith admonished, putting her cup down.

“Yeah, well it’s one of the only reliable places that could get me that elixir!” Edalyn shot back, silencing Lilith. “Not like a good night’s rest can quell the curse, no I need a specific elixir that I can _only_ get on the night market!”

Lilith looked down, now completely quiet. “I...I see,” she said, so quiet it sounded very much like a rasp.

Edalyn blinked before seeing her sister’s slouched position. “Hey, I already forgave you for all that. You’re sharing half the curse with me, and you’re working to make up for your mistakes. Don’t go all mopey and guilty on me again,” she tried to reassure.

“It doesn’t change the fact that I put you through so much pain. The transformations, the agony, the isolation...the dangers of having to control the curse. All I could see was my future in the Emperor’s Coven...” Lilith whispered. Edalyn put a hand on her shoulder, only for Lilith to push it away.

“Lily, come on. Don’t be like that, I’m trying to help you get out of your depression,” Edalyn mumbled, her tone solemn.

“I appreciate the thought, sister. But I deserve it. I had my own self reflection after I transformed back into...me...and I came to the conclusion that I’m a terrible sister. I believed I was following Emperor Belos, enforcing his will and way of life...only to see I was lying to myself,” Lilith muttered. “Everything I did, was for me, not for you. When I wanted to heal you, I only wanted your curse off my conscience...”

Edalyn listened, rubbing her sister’s shoulder as she did so. “Hey, I get it,” Edalyn said. “You were always the more ambitious of the two of us...guess I shouldn’t have been such a rebel, yanno, made your life a personal nightmare,” she said.

Lilith snorted, very unlike her professional behavior back as commander of the Emperor’s Coven. “So you plan on being less rebellious?” she asked.

Edalyn let out a chortle. “Ha! Not even in your dreams, sister. I’ve been like this for over twenty years, and I’m not about to stop now! Speaking of which...my dress looks too big on you,” she said.

“Yes, perhaps you’ve been packing quite a bit of those pounds over the years,” Lilith said with a provoking smile on her face, eliciting a very offended gasp from Edalyn.

“Oh, I’m not about to take this from the Hexide girl who everyone noticed for having a bigger butt than mine,” Edalyn said.

Lilith;s eyebrows shot up, a horrified and embarrassed expression on her face. “What? Who said that?!” she cried, very mortified.

“Oh, you know...Alador, Breskins, Callie, a few of the staff, most of the potions track-” Edalyn listed off before Lilith tackled her sister with a war cry onto the couch, much to her younger sister’s varied amusement.

“Hey...I’m trying to sleep here...” King whined before curling up on the windowsill. Nevertheless, he couldn’t fall back asleep with the two women causing a ruckus full of laughing and cursing.

\- _At the Library_ \- 

Amity waited for Luz, impatient and nervous at the stairs in front of the library’s front doors. She didn’t remember the last time she was giddy, especially for Luz. But she was in too good of a mood to think about this.

Speaking of which: 

“Luz!” Amity called, coming over to the approaching human. “H-how was your walk?”

Luz smiles, seemingly oblivious to Amity’s change of behavior from before. “Well, ran into Boscha and her goons. But they ignored me. That’s about it,” Luz said.

Amity gasped. “You should stay away from them, they’re all jerks, especially to you and Willow and Gus,” she said. “Remember that Grudgby match?”

Luz giggled. “Yeah, I remember. If you recall, Boscha’s friends came to congratulate us after the game. They aren’t all bad,” she said. “And it’s not like I’m actually looking for Boscha, yanno?”

Amity frowned. “Still, be careful, OK?” she said. “I don’t want you getting bullied again.”

“ _Where is this coming from? When have I ever been this...worried, or affectionate?_ ” Amity thought to herself, blushing nervously, that semi-wide smile somehow never leaving her face.

Luz paid no mind, just smiling back at her. “Aww, you are going soft on me, Blight,” she said, nudging Amity’s side playfully. “Must have been me carrying you with that injured leg, eh?”

“Pfft, you wish,” Amity said, smirking as she elbowed Luz’s arm, much to the latter’s amusement. “Someone has to put up with your shenanigans. Now come on, let’s study-“

“Hey, Mittens. Can we talk?” a familiar voice called out to the two Hexside students.

Turning, Amity sighed at seeing her siblings walking over. “I’ll be right there,” she said to Luz before going to Emira and Edric, who were leaning against a column at the front of the library door. “What do you two want?”

The twins looked to each other with their signature smirks on their faces, before looking back to face their baby sister. “We noticed you were a bit...different at school today,” Edric said.

“Yeah, so?” Amity asked, crossing her arms and looking away.

“We never see you smile that much in a month, then we see you all super happy, sunshine and rainbows all day? Come on, spill,” Emira coaxed.

“Spill what? Nothing to spill,” Amity said, a bit more insistent. “I just had a good day, and am about to study with my new best friend.”

The two teens looked to each other before sighing, and looking back to their baby sister. “Alright, if you wanna keep it up to yourself, we won’t keep pushing for it. Just...keep it up?” Emira asked.

Amity blinked in surprise and confusion, which must have been visible on her face because Edric started speaking as well. “Contrary to what we always do, we do care. We’re your siblings after all. We never really see you like this very often, and...well, we wanna see you happy, Mittens,” Edric clarified, in a surprisingly soft tone.

“Yeah,” Emira said, her tone matching her brother’s. Both had semi-solemn looks on their faces, but were still smiling at their sister.

“Oh...um, thanks,” Amity said in bewilderment, as her siblings walked away with a “See you later Mittens!”, probably heading out to their friends, or to hang out somewhere and pull some more pranks. “ _Have I really been so serious all this time?_ ” she thought to herself. “ _Did that coffee really make me more...happy?_ ”

“Hey, Amity!” Luz called, coming over to the contemplating witchling. “Everything alright?” she asked.

“Hmm? Yeah. Yeah...just thinking,” Amity said as she felt Luz lean closer to her. “About?” the Latino teen human girl said, smiling brightly as Amity coughed nervously.

“About how your breath smells like a half cooked potion made with Abmoination slime,” Amity said. Luz let out a dramatic gasp, before clutching where her heart would be. “That’s...cold...betrayal” the human girl mockingly gasped, much to Amity’s amusement.

“Come on, you dork. Let’s just study,” the mint green haired witchling said, heading into the library with Luz hot on her heels.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My chapters will be on an inconsistent schedule, meaning I'll post new chapters either every few days to a week thanks to work and classes.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

\-  _ At Blight Manor _ \- 

Amity woke up the next day, extremely sluggish and very exhausted. She couldn’t even get up out of bed, just stumbling to the floor of her bedroom with a pained moan. Her head hurt, and her body practically begged for five more minutes of sweet, sweet sleep.

“Wake up, dear. You have class in an hour!” the voice of her father said, his normally mid-volume voice booming super loudly in Amity’s ears. Groaning, she stumbled to her feet and went straight to the bathroom. She normally didn’t shower in the morning, but she felt that she really needed it.

She dragged her body over to the shower, in a manner reminiscent of Luz and her attempts at mimicking and abomination back when she and Luz were still ‘enemies’. The memory did make her smile a bit before she winced at the early morning headache.

She turned the faucet and let out a loud yelp as the freezing water practically sent icicles stabbing into her back. Shuddering, she waited for the water to heat up a little, just so it didn’t hurt her, before scrubbing. She also brushed her teeth in the shower, hoping to save a few minutes in prep time.

As she showered and rinsed, she came across a small pinkish spot on the left side of her chest. “Huh?” she mumbled before yawning and scrubbing over it. “Whatever...that’s what I get for flopping on the floor.” She didn’t bother to check and see if the spot had gone away as she rinsed.

After a few minutes of showering, Amity cleaned up and got dressed, finding herself a bit more refreshed and awake, not by much, though. “Coffee...” she mumbled as she made her way downstairs.

“Amity, stand up straight. That’s very unbecoming of you as a Blight,” her mother said sternly from the kitchen. Amity didn’t pay much mind to the disappointment from her mother, but she attempted to sit up straight as she went to the dining table. She looked down to see two slices of buttered toast and a glass of cold milk. “ _ At least it’s cold...last thing I need is to fall back asleep _ ,” Amity thought to herself as she dug in, picking up and biting the crunchy bread, quickly tearing it apart akin to a savage.

Luckily for her, Odalia didn’t seem to notice. Either because she was too busy cooking or she wasn’t in the mood to complain over spilled milk. And crumbs. Either way, Amity took the time to hurry up and get this routine of waking up over and done with.

Minutes later, she was completely done with her meal. Setting the dishes in the sink, she grabbed her school bag and hurried outside, dusting her cowl and tunic of any breadcrumbs and wiping her mouth of any residual milk as she hurried to school. The morning seemed extra cold today in the Boiling Isles, Amity shivering wildly in her relatively thin uniform. “Wish I brought a jacket...” she stuttered.

As she ran to the courtyard, she looked down and coughed roughly into her hand. She was about to bolt up the stairs when-

“Oof!”

* _ thud _ *

“Hey, watch it!” Amity cried before gasping. A familiar human girl lay, groaning on the ground as she rubbed her head. “Luz! I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to-wait, first period class doesn’t start for another hour and a half, what’re you doing here so early?!”

Luz got up, stretching her arms. “Ay,  _ eso duele _ ...anyway, good morning Amity! I came to drop this off,” she said as she reached into her bag and pulled something familiar out.

Amity’s heart leapt upon seeing the familiar thermos from yesterday. It was like a holy grail, being offered to her on a silver platter, shining in the early sun as if asking her to drink it and solve all her problems.

“You brought coffee?” she said. “You actually remembered.” Amity’s eyes sparkled brightly at Luz and the thermos she held out. “You...” she whispered before sniffling. 

“W-Wait, I didn’t mean to make you cry! Do you not want it? You should’ve said if you didn’t like coffee, I shouldn’t have-“ Luz rambled before Amity grabbed her arm.

“No! No, it’s OK. It’s just...no one ever really cared enough to keep what they say. When you said you’d bring coffee again, I didn’t really expect you to,” Amity explained, wiping her eyes.

Luz smiled. “Come on, what kind of friend did you think I’d be if I didn’t keep my promises?” she said before holding the thermos out once again. “Now come on, do you want it or not?”

Amity looked at the thermos before taking it and gulping a good portion of it down. Almost exactly like before, she felt instant rejuvenation. Her eyelids weren’t heavy, and everything felt brighter once again. The aching feeling was suddenly gone, and Amity stopped drinking to savor this sudden boost of energy.

“I...thank you Luz,” Amity said, much more relaxed. “I needed that. I hope it’s not too much trouble to make coffee in the morning...and I hope you don’t plan on waking up super early like this every day. It’s kind of painful.”

“As much as I’d love to see you every morning before class,” she added silently in her thoughts as she basked in Luz’s bright smile. 

“It’s not. Though I’m pretty this stuff won’t last more than a month,” Luz said, Amity stopping upon hearing those words. “Especially with no more access to the human world to get more coffee.”

Amity’s heart stopped. It was in limited supply? As in there would soon be no more of this? She knew it was too good to be true. Her heart dropped to the bottom of her stomach, and she quickly guzzled down another helping of coffee.

“Whoa, it’s not like the world’s gonna end!” Luz said, seeing Amity’s panicked behavior. “Look, the bag is pretty big, and the only ones who drink it are Eda and Lilith, so it won’t last that short.”

“I...I don’t think I can make it through the day without it,” Amity said, her voice shaky before quickly shaking her head. “S-sorry, I just...I never usually get something like this and you-the drink-makes things more bearable and not as painful and-” 

“Hey, hey. It’s alright. There are substitutes to it. Like...like sugary foods and other energy drinks,” Luz suggested. “Seriously, you look like crap this early. How much sleep do you get?”

“Umm...five, maybe six hours?” Amity asked, hoping Luz wouldn’t freak out. The way Luz’s eyes shot wide open told her she said the wrong answer. 

“FIVE TO SIX-how are you even functioning?  _ Dios mío _ ...” Luz said. “You need to get more sleep every night.”

“I...I can’t. Not with exams coming up,” Amity said. Why was she suddenly so nervous? Was it because of the tone Luz had right now? Or the fact she seemed to look so disappointed in her?

“Your mental health is way more important than a dumb grade,” Luz insisted. “Don’t your parents give you a bedtime?”

“Well...” Amity said awkwardly. “My mom kind of makes me stay up to keep studying. B-but I kinda have to, with exams and all sorts of-”

“Amity, it doesn’t matter how important something is, it shouldn’t have to make you sick in the process,” Luz reiterated. “Promise me you’ll get more sleep, OK?”

"Luz..." Amity sighed.

"Amity, promise me!" Luz cried suddenly, grabbing her arm. "Please."

Amity looked away, blushing. “I...I promise I’ll be fine. I’ll get some proper sleep tonight, I promise,” she said.

Luz frowned sadly. “You’d better. Seeing you like this...hurts...it really does,” she said, becoming very emotional.

Amity felt bad for making a promise like this. She knew her mother would probably force her awake again to study, while reprimanding her for putting laziness over success.  “I’m sorry, Luz. It’s been super hard lately, that’s all,” Amity reassured. “It’s not like this all the time, things will go back to normal after exams...”

Luz smiled before pulling Amity in for a short hug, making said witchling blush more brightly nervously before steadying her grip on the thermos. “OK, I trust you. See you later?” she asked.

Amity smiled back, nervously. She didn’t feel right about this, but she knew Luz cared about her a lot, something she wished her own mother did every once in a while. At least father was kind enough to ask about school and friends after every school day.

“See you later,” she said as she hugged Luz back awkwardly. She still didn’t get the hang of this ‘hug’ stuff since she didn’t do it a lot, or at all, really. But it did feel good, if not awkward to give or receive.

The two let go and Amity took one last sip from the thermos before she left to head to zero period, having about a half hour to get there and cram some more on her studies. As she went to her class, she suddenly stopped in the middle of the hallways and groaned at forgetting her lunch bag again.

\-  _ 9 hours later, At The Owl House _ \- 

“Luz, you’re worrying too much,” Eda said as she watched Luz pace back and forth in her room, her untouched assignments and studying material laying on the floor. 

“Edalyn’s right, human,” Lilith said, before getting a glare from Eda. “A-ahem, I mean, Luz. Amity is a very capable and responsible witchling, and I’m sure she knows how to manage her own health.”

“How can I not worry? Amity’s parents are forcing her to stay up late just so they have another ‘daughter’s good grade’ to brag to the others about,” Luz said.

“While Odalia is a bit of a stickler-” Lilith began before getting interrupted by Eda.

“A ‘bit’ of?” Eda asked, raising an eyebrow and crossing her arms.

“...I doubt that she would be so cruel to her children's health,” Lilith continued, much to her younger sister’s chagrin. Thougy by Lilith's tone, it was obvious she wasn't so sure of that.

“Still, I can’t help but worry. She freaked out when I mentioned that there would be a limited supply of coffee, like she had nothing else to help her stay awake,” Luz said. “I know it sounds silly, but-”

“It’s not silly, kid,” Eda quickly reassured. “Pretty noble to worry about your friend. Don’t ever say being concerned for someone’s health is bad, OK?”

Lilith nodded. “Though I do admit, I am curious,” she said. “You said coffee is an ‘energy’ drink? Please elaborate on how it works.”

Luz rubbed the back of her head nervously. “I...I don’t really understand all of it, but coffee has caffeine in it, which is some sort of drug? Not the bad kind, think of it as a...hmmm...it makes you more awake, basically speeding up blood flow and heart rate,” she said, wincing at her shoddy explanation. “Sorry, I never really looked into it back in the human world.”

Lilith seemed to be in deep thought. “I see,” she said. “Thank you. I’ll be right back.”

Eda scratched her head. “I don’t understand her sometimes...heh, guess that means I don’t have to think about it,” she said.

“You know I’m not going to stop worrying,” Luz said. “You haven’t seen Amity so tired before, she looked miserable, a literal zombie!”

“I know, but will worrying really do anything about it?” Eda asked. “If you wanna keep worrying, you might as well use that worrying to start helping her.”

Luz looked down as Eda let out a sneeze, before snorting. “Ugh...friendship,” she groaned as she wiped her nose with the back of her hand. “Anyway, you should get to working. Exams are important, after all.”

“You? Lecturing me on exams?” Luz snorted. “Wow, you changed a lot, Eda.”

“I know, you’re ruining me, kid,” Eda said, waving a hand as she made her way out of the room. “I’m serious, Luz.”

“I know...I’ll get to studying,” Luz said as she sat down and began to look through her worksheets and books. “Hey, where’s King?”

“He and Hooty are trying to get that coffee machine of yours working,” Eda said, neglecting to remember that the machine was only found by Luz in Eda’s pile of junk. “Don’t worry, I won’t let them break it. Or drink that coffee of yours.”

“Thanks, Eda,” Luz said as she watched her mentor close the door behind her. As she got to working on her assignments, she wondered what Lilith was doing right about now.

\-  _ at Blight Manor _ \- 

Amity returned home, seeing her brother lying lazily on the couch upon entering. “Hey, Mittens,” Edric said. “How’s it going?”

“Fine. What’re you doing?” Amity asked. “And where’s Emira?”

“She’s probably sucking face with her new girlfriend,” Edric said casually, prompting Amity to raise an eyebrow in confusion. “Some new multi-track student named Viney,” Amity’s older brother clarified as he looked up from his scroll to look up at Amity.

“Since when did Emira get a girlfriend?” Amity asked.

“Apparently since yesterday. They went on a date and came back here to kiss or something,” Edric said. “Anyways, enough about me.”

“We weren’t talking about you,” Amity said.

“How was your school day today?” Edric asked, flipping over to look at Amity properly rather than upside down.

“It was fine. I passed my practice exam and I still have two study guides to complete by tomorrow,” Amity said, prompting.

“Come on, you’re stressing yourself out,” Edric said. “Don’t you ever wanna relax?”

“I’ll relax when these exams are done,” Amity said. “I already skipped out on going and reading to the kids at the library a few times, plus all the sleep I miss studying anyway. I say the relaxing starts when the work is finished.”

“But that’s the thing!” Edric complained. “You’re always working on your school. School this, mom and dad that, no time for your friends, or your sister and I, or even you! What happened to the whole ‘mental health’ seminar you vowed to follow a few years back?”

“I...shut up, you know how mom is,” Amity said.

“I do...and you know she’ll only treat you worse. It’s like how me and Emira were treated when we were your age,” Edric said.

Amity looked away, not bothering to correct his probably incorrect grammar. “I know,” she said. “Just...leave me alone. I’ll sleep early, take proper care of myself.”

Edric didn’t say anything as Amity passed him, only to bump into Emira and the other girl, a brown haired Hexside student with both orange and blue track colors. Healing and Beast Keeping, if she recalled the tracks correctly.

“Sorry, didn’t mean to bump into you,” Amity said.

“Oh, don’t worry about it. I’m Viney,” the girl said. “You must be Amity.”

“Yeah. you must be Viney, Emira’s new girlfriend,” Amity said, smiling at the girl. She noticed her uniform was torn up. Normally, she’d criticize this girl’s lack of properly stitched clothing, but she didn’t care at the moment.

“Hey, sis,” Emira said as she leaned over Viney’s shoulder to greet Amity. “You’re back home late.”

“Yeah, I’m gonna cram some studying in a bit before going to sleep early,” Amity said. “I stay up too late anyway.”

“That’s the spirit!” Edric called from the living room.

Amity sighed. “I’m gonna go get started. Talk to you later,” she said, yawning as she walked past her older sister and her girlfriend to get to her room.

As Amity passed the two girls, Viney raised an eyebrow. “She doesn’t sound ‘uptight’ or ‘a killjoy’ like you say,” she said.

Emira frowned. “Yeah...she’s been studying too hard lately,” she said in worry. “Barely reacts to our pranks anymore, all she can see is the textbooks and grades.”

“Sounds like she’s gonna burn herself out soon. I hope she knows how to take care of herself,” Viney said, concerned.

“She said she was going to sleep early today,” Edric said, walking over to Emira and Viney. “Anyways, how goes the face sucking?”

He was met with a slug to the kisser. “Knew it,” he mumbled before passing out. Emira just sighed as she rubbed her sore hand.

Viney frowned. “I feel like you’re only dating me so I can heal you every time you hurt him,” she said, unimpressed.

“What, no!” Emira protested before winking. “I noticed you for your killer bod, after all.” That earned her a blush and facepalm from Viney.

Amity spent the next four hours studying, skipping dinner to get moe studying time in. “Hope mother won’t mind me sleeping in,” she said to herself quietly.

When bedtime had come around 10:30 PM, Amity had showered and brushed her teeth. Snuggling into bed in her pajamas, she forgot how much she’d missed her bed when she wasn’t drop dead tired.

Not even ten minutes of lying in bed, she was immediately woken up again by a painful sensation on her face. Amity awoke with a gasp, rubbing her face where she was hurting. “Ow! What the-” she hissed before seeing the furious glare of her mother bearing down on her. “M-mother, I-”

“What do you think you are doing, daughter?” Odalia demanded, the glare absolutely terrifying Amity. “Are you trying to skip out on your studies?”

“N-no, I skipped dinner to get more studying in so I c-could get more slee-” Amity tried to explain before Odalia slapped her, hard. Amity cried out again, as her mother forced her daughter out of bed. “Agh! M-mother it hurts!”

“No Blight puts her own selfish laziness over her studies,” Odalia scolded harshly before forcing Amity at her desk with a thud. “You ought to be ashamed of yourself.”

Amity hit her desk, rubbing the red mark on her cheek as tears streamd down her face. “I-I was so tired...I can’t-”

“That’s no excuse. A Blight puts her studies and her status before anything else in life. You will study until it’s 2:00 AM, just like all the other times. Am I clear?” Odalia said.

“B-but I can’t-” Amity tried to protest before Odalia raised her hand threateningly. Amity’s lips fell shut with a horrified whimper. She felt like she was 6 again, when she’d gotten her first B grade on a writing quiz.

“I said, am I clear?” Odalia said, much louder.

“Y-yes...” Amity whispered, a sob breaking out.

“If I see you asleep before then, you will regret it,” Odalia practically growled. Amity nodded rapidly, not trusting herself to keep her cool.

Odalia stormed out of the room, with Amity sitting at her desk, shaking with wide and teary eyes. “I knew it...I knew it, why did I try...why would I ever think she’d let me...” she whimpered as she opened her textbook. 

\-  _ The next morning at Hexside Courtyard _ \- 

Amity didn’t see Luz before zero period. Maybe she overslept, but she was looking forward to seeing her again. The next hour was of utter pain and misery as she struggled to pay attention.

Thanks to her mother, Amity got  **zero** hours of sleep last night, as well as no lunch or dinner yesterday, resulting in very horrible double vision and even worse hearing. In the end, she only managed to take half of the required notes for that class. She wasn’t happy enough that the bell screamed to wake her up. Maybe she’d be able to get the coffee Luz brought for her for the past two days, not sure her body was willing to run on a single piece of toast, as her mother’s punishment from last night.

Immediately, she made her way to the courtyard where she met Luz, Willow, and Gus. “Hey, good morning!” Gus called as he waved to Amity.

“You OK, Amity? You look tired,” Willow said as they approached her.

“Oh, pffft. I’m fine, it’s super early in the morning after all,” Amity said. “Are  _ you _ OK?”

“Uhh...yeah?” Willow asked.

“So...how’d you sleep? Did you get enough?” Luz asked upon seeing Amity. Amity looked away for a moment, before she faced Luz with a fake smile plastered on her face.

“Yeah...totally.”

For once, she was never more glad and ashamed for Luz’s obliviousness at her blatant lie.

Luz looked down, nervously. “Great! By the way, I couldn’t make any coffee today. King tried to break the coffee machine when he couldn’t get any. But don’t worry, it’s not broken. I just couldn’t get enough time to make coffee without being late.”

Amity’s heart sank at this horribly. She feared the day she’d have to go through with no energy whatsoever. She wanted to beg Luz to say she was joking. But she simply smiled and shook her head.

“That’s alright, Luz. I shouldn’t be asking you to take time out of your morning for me anyway,” Amity said, a bit more quietly. Willow narrowed her eyes, but all Amity did was keep eye contact away from her.

“I know you feel bad about it, but I wanna help. After all, you do need something to keep you awake,” Luz said, tilting her head. “You look horrible, are you absolutely sure you got enough sleep?”

Amity almost broke at her worried expression. She wanted to say no, to explain what happened last night. But again, she simply kept a straight face and said yes.

And Luz was never the wiser.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4  
  
\- 2 days later -   
  
Amity’s health was drastically worsening, with more studying replacing what little sleep she could get. Her mother was now taking away any chance of sleep she had any chance she could. After school, Odalia demanded that she skip dinner in order to start on her study guide a whole week early, though she “made up” for this by packing bigger lunches.  
  
Amity tried to protest that the exams were a week and a half away, only to get a harsh slap and what was practically an insult to her face. Amity never tried to talk back again. She sent a letter to the library explaining that she wasn’t able to come by and read to the kids for a while, and she had to constantly shrug off her siblings when they asked questions or prank her.  
  
Odalia was also the worst she’d ever been, constantly having her room locked and monitored to make sure she was constantly studying. When Amity finished one assignment, Odalia demanded that she start over to “double check”. Emira and Edric seemed to notice as well, and slowly stopped bothering her with pranks.  
  
Viney was especially furious and threatened to sicc her pet Griffon beast Puddles on the woman before Emira convinced her not to. However, Viney still decided to put her own impact on the situation by calling on a friend.  
  
“WHAT?” Luz cried, freezing from petting Puddles, who chirped in confusion. It was lunchtime at Hexside, and Viney and Luz were hanging out and eating in the courtyard since Amity, Willow, and Gus had club and extracurricular studies to attend.  
  
Viney nodded. “Amity’s been looking like garbage lately. And I’m not saying that in a bad way, she’s been looking very horrible. From what I hear from Emira, her mom’s been extra hard on her ever since she saw Amity trying to sleep early,” the healing and beast keeping track witchling explained.  
  
“But...she said she was fine...why would she lie to me?” Luz whispered. “She didn’t look too bad when I saw her...she just drank all the coffee I gave her before running to class...”  
  
“Did you see her eyes? Or how she walked?” Viney asked as she tossed a piece of meat to Puddles, who gobbled it up sloppily and earnestly.  
  
Luz shook her head, looking down. “No, she was wearing her hood...but I thought it was because she was cold...how did I miss this? Oh my gosh, am I a bad friend? _¿Cómo podría_?” she said, having been donning a very distraught facial expression at this info.  
  
Viney couldn’t blame her, she knew how close the human girl was with Amity. “You’re not a bad friend. But Amity’s scared. I haven’t actually met her mom but...from what I hear she’s super strict. Like ‘probably worse than the emperor’ strict,” Viney said, with Luz scoffing at that statement. “I honestly don’t know how to approach this.”  
  
“What do you mean? You’re in the healing track, doesn’t that mean you could help her?” Luz asked frantically. “Is there anything you could do?”  
  
“It’s a bit more complicated than that, Luz. Amity’s still not an adult yet, so her mom has to give permission for checkups or any sort of thing like that,” Viney explained, rubbing Puddles on the head. “And it’s not like I could just barge in and demand to help her, I’m still not an adult and I could easily be banned from the household.”  
  
“Mierda...” Luz hissed in fury before sighing and standing up. “Thanks for telling me...”  
  
“No problem, Luz,” Viney said before reaching over and grabbing Luz’s arm. “Just don’t...don’t do anything rash, OK?”  
  
Luz frowned. “No promises,” she said before turning back and heading to the school, while Viney flew off to the sports fields on Puddles for her next class.  
  
\- 3 hours later -   
  
Luz sighed as she rubbed her forehead. She left Hexside to go home and was currently walking through the courtyard of a park, just as she unexpectedly saw Amity near the side, sitting at a bench and looking through her notes. “Amity! Are you OK?” Luz said to the witchling.  
  
Amity looked up to see the human girl and quickly shut her notebook, slamming it into her bag before she ran over, grabbing Luz’s shoulders with surprising strength. “Luz, please tell me there’s a coffee recipe, or a potion, or anything I could use!” she cried. Luz blinked in surprise before fully registering what Amity looked like.  
  
She was deathly pale, with sunken eyes and bags under said eyes, as well as her normally neatly tied hair messier than she’d ever seen. Even her posture was wrong, slumped over with her hands shaking quite a bit.  
  
Luz never felt so horrified and angry in her life. “Amity, what happened to you?” Luz said calmly, only for Amity to tighten her grip on her shoulders.  
  
“Luz, please, just tell me!” Amity cried before Luz yelped in pain. Amity stumbled back, as Luz clutched her aching shoulders. “S-sorry...”  
  
“Amity, you need help,” Luz said as she looked at her friend’s eyes, which darted around nervously like she was paranoid. “You’re getting worse, don’t you see it?”  
  
Amity looked away, shivering nervously. “I-I don’t need help. I just need coffee, a-and then I go back to studying. Big tests, very b-big tests...” she rambled nervously, a far cry from the confidence and professionalism that Amity once carried.  
  
“Amity!” Luz cried, before pulling Amity behind the tree in the park. “Amity, look at yourself. You need help. You need sleep. I don’t know what your mom’s been doing to you, but-”  
  
Amity’s eyes widened. “H-ha! HAHA, what’re you talking about? Mother’s been perfectly reasonable, she’s been very nice, I don’t know what you’re trying to imply!” she rambled as she tried to frantically shrug off the topic, but even Luz wasn’t oblivious to this.  
  
“Amity!” Luz cried. “Please...”  
  
Amity stopped talking as Luz grabbed Amity’s hand. “Please...” she whispered. “Don’t shut me out...”  
  
Amity, as sleep deprived and unlike herself as she was, blushed bright red, which really stood out in her pale face. “I...” she said. “Hey, Luz...”  
  
“Yeah?” Luz said. Her hands and face were sweating with how tense she was.  
  
“D-do...do you like girls?” Amity asked. Luz blinked in astonishment at the question, having not expected a change in the subject like this.  
  
“Amity, are you OK?” Luz said. “Please, we have to go to the nurse’s office, or healer, or-”  
  
“J-just answer the question,” Amity insisted, her hands shaking. Luz stared at the quivering girl before coming over and grabbing Amity’s hand, with Amity jolting in surprise at the sudden contact.  
  
“Amity, please stop changing the subject, we need to get you to a healer. Viney! Viney’s in the healing track, and she stays after school with Jerbo and Barcus for a club thing I don’t remember, come on, school isn't too far from here-” Luz said as she began to pull the struggling Amity with her.  
  
“Luz, please I-I really don’t want to talk about this. I j-just need to-” Amity whispered before gasping, clutching her arm.  
  
“Amity, you need help, now come on!” Luz cried as she reached over to hold Amity by the shoulder a bit harder than she intended, causing Amity to let out a short scream. She forced herself away quickly and swung her arm at Luz, backhanding the human girl hard in the cheek.  
  
It all went quiet. The only things that could be heard was Luz stumbling back a few steps and Amity’s gasp of horror. Luz gaped like a fish out of the water as she held her stinging cheek in pain and shock. “Amity?”  
  
Amity instantly began to hyperventilate, tears welling in her eyes as her body began to shake. Backing away, she tripped before scrambling to her feet in a panic. “I...I’m sorry!!” she cried as she turned around. Luz snapped out of it the moment she saw Amity whirl around to make a run for it, and she tackled the sick and pale girl right then and there.  
  
The two crashed to the ground painfully, with Luz crying out in pain and Amity laying limp in the grass upon contact. “Ow...Amity?” Luz asked, standing up. “Amity, are you OK?”  
  
Amity didn’t move, and Luz’s eyes widened. Falling to her knees, she turned her over to see Amity’s darkened eyes closed. “Amity?! Amity, wake up!” she cried.  
  
“What’s going on?”  
  
Luz looked up to see a girl in the bard track, a girl she'd seen hanging around Boscha a lot of the time. Skara, if Luz remembered the name correctly. Skara gasped immediately at seeing how pale Amity was, and Luz ran over and grabbed the bard track student’s hand.  
  
“Skara, please! Help me get Luz to a healer, she’s really sick, she doesn’t get enough sleep, and something else is wrong!” Luz blurted in the span of one second.  
  
“What happened to her?” Skara cried.  
  
“Her mom is forcing her to study super hard and skip sleep. Do you know where Viney is? No wait, not sure you know Viney, what about any healer?” Luz rambled.  
  
“Uhh...I think there's an all day clinic near the park, come on!” Skara said as she and Luz came over to Amity and helped her up.  
  
\- At The Owl House -   
  
Edalyn Clawthorne watched Lilith, surrounded by papers, tomes, and scrolls. “I don't know why you’re littering my floor, but I’d appreciate it if you clean it up afterwards,” the pale half cursed woman said as she looked around the room.  
  
“I will. I’m not as unorganized and lazy as you are, sister,” Lilith promised as she flipped through a tome.  
  
Eda just sighed as she sat down and picked up one of the tomes on the floor. “Huh? ‘Guides to Foreign Cerations’? What’re you even trying to research?” she asked.  
  
“That coffee Luz explained. I’m rather curious about it,” Lilith said as she flipped through the book that lay before her. “How it works and whether something like this has been attempted before.”  
  
“Who cares? It tastes decent and it keeps us from becoming the undead,” Eda said. Lilith raised an eyebrow to which Eda just shrugged. “Apparently that’s what Luz said to me.”  
  
King waddled into the room, looking around. “Huh?” he asked. “Don’t tell me you have a test to study for too.”  
  
“No, I don’t. I haven’t had any tests for over twenty years,” Lilith said. “Hmmm...I swear there was something about this...coffee. It reminds me of something from my studies on ancient artifacts and potions.”  
  
“Isn’t it a human thing? Why would it be here, especially in 'ancient' studies?” Eda asked as she dropped the tome down.  
  
“Remember, we’ve known about humans and their realm for a long time now. For all we know, some of the human realm’s society and inventions might’ve slipped in here long ago,” Lilith pointed out while shooting a small glare for dropping the tome on the floor. “And I swear this drink Luz made is familiar somehow.”  
  
“Well...alright,” Eda said as she looked around. “If you say so. Just don’t make such a big mess.”  
  
“Like I said, I won’t. Hopefully Luz gets back here soon,” Lilith said, before hearing a commotion going on downstairs. “What’s going on?”  
  
Eda sighed before turning around and heading back downstairs, with King hot on her tail. When they reached the living room, they could see Hooty’s open door and a dark green haired girl arguing with the owl tube, alongside a dark brown haired girl with a blue and orange uniform.  
  
“Hey, you’re Grom Queen’s sister!” King pointed out as he peeked out from behind Eda’s leg.  
  
Emira turned to see King and Eda waiting for them. “Now I get it when Mittens was talking about murdering your house,” she said, as a grumpy Hooty shut the door behind the two. “Hey Owl Lady. Love the new eye.”  
  
“Thanks, twerp,” Eda said, smiling. “Anyways, what brings you and...ripped clothes girl here?”  
  
“I’m Viney. And-wait...you look familiar,” the other girl said, narrowing her eyes.  
  
“Yeah, this is the Owl Lady. Mittens mentioned something about Luz telling her that she was Mistress Calamity in her younger years,” Emira said, scratching her head. “Whatever that is.”  
  
“Hey, that’s Lord Calamity to you,” Eda said.  
  
The other girl let out a gasp. “Oh. My. Gosh. That's you?!” she blurted out before clearing her throat. “S-sorry, I just...I’m a huge fan of your work. We practically worship you back when we were in the detention coven.”  
  
“Ah...I see Bumpikins has been keeping busy cleaning up my messes. What’s it been twenty plus years? Anyway, what’s up?” Eda asked.  
  
“Yeah...Luz isn’t coming home. She’s staying at an all day clinic taking care of Mittens,” Emira said.  
  
“Mittens?” King asked.  
  
“Amity,” Viney clarified.  
  
“Ah,” King stated.  
  
“What’s wrong?” Eda asked, getting nothing but an uncomfortable and tense silence. “Nothing happened to Luz or Miss Second Grom Queen, right?”  
  
“Not Luz...but yeah, something happened to Amity,” Viney said, looking to Emira.  
  
Eda frowned. “Guess the kid was right to worry about her,” she said. “What’s up with her anyway? Cus the other day, Luz was worrying like crazy. And not like the ‘paranoid over nothing’ kind either.”  
  
Emira looked away, her expression morphing into one of discomfort and shame. “It’s...a long story,” she said.  
  
Eda frowned and sat on the couch. “Go on, I have time,” she said sternly as she pat the spot next to her.  
  
\- Healer’s Office -   
  
Amity groaned as she woke up, her ears ringing and her head pulsing painfully. Opening her eyes, the first thing she saw was a bright and blurry light. “Agh...what...what happened?” she groaned.  
  
Sitting up, she looked around. Recognizing this place as a sort of healer's office, she realized she was lying in a bed. An awfully soft bed, with fluffy blankets and such a comfortable room temperature.  
  
“Maybe going back to sleep wouldn’t be so bad...” Amity thought to herself, letting out a squeaky yawn as she slowly lay back down, snuggling into the bed and slowly closing her eyes. “This doesn’t feel so bad...”  
  
“Dios mio...”  
  
Amity’s tired eyes shot back open, drifting to a smiling face next to the bed. “That was the cutest yawn I ever heard!” Luz squealed as she leaned over from the chair she was sitting in.  
  
Amity blushed brightly as she looked awkwardly away. “I...what happened? How did I end up here?” she asked.  
  
Luz’s smile vanished as she sighed. “You passed out...the healer said you weren’t getting enough sleep, and one of those X-Ray spells she did showed your heart and bile sac...changing,” she explained somberly.  
  
“What’re you talking about?” Amity asked. “And how long have I been asleep?”  
  
“It’s been about 6 hours, and you’re at a healer’s clinic near the park. It means...your magic might be getting affected,” Luz said. “You need rest, a lot of it. I talked to the principal, he said he’d postpone your exams until you get better and-”  
  
Amity’s eyes went wide before she shot back up, sitting up straight in the bed. “W-what? Ha, no that’s completely unnecessary!” Amity protested.  
  
“Amity, you hit me by accident!” Luz said. “And then you passed out right away when you fell. You and I were lucky that Skara was around to get you here. She wishes you to get better soon, by the way.”  
  
Amity looked down. “I...” she said. “I just need to get back to work. These exams are too important, I can’t just neglect my studies, don’t you understand-”  
  
“I do!” Luz cried out, getting more distraught by the second. “I’m studying hard too but I’m not forcing myself to stay awake to do so! Look, the clinic is letting you stay, your sister is telling Eda about this and your brother said he'd go home to tell your mom about you being sick.”  
  
Amity’s heart pulsed painfully, and she looked away. “You don't understand, I just-” she said.  
  
“What, is your mom still making you stay awake?” Luz asked. Normally, Amity would’ve seen this as a guess, but with the way Luz was implying that question, she knew something else was up.  
  
“Why would you say that?” Amity asked, catching Luz off guard. “I already said that she makes me stay up a little bit, but-”  
  
“No, you said she made you stay up to the point of you getting less than five to six hours of sleep, which is already too little. Now I know you’ve been getting less!” Luz shot back. “You need to sleep!”  
  
“No, I need to get back home and-” Amity protested as she tried to climb out of bed, only to realize that she was wearing a patient’s gown underneath the blankets she was sleeping under. And judging by how cold she felt when she lifted the blanket, that was all that she was wearing. “What the, where-”  
  
“Oh yeah, they, uhh, had you wear that in order to conduct those spells on you. But I didn’t look, and the one who undressed you is a professional, don’t worry!” Luz said, her defiance now giving way to very flustered behavior.  
  
Amity blushed brightly, feeling practically naked around Luz of all people. “W-where’s my clothes?” she squeaked nervously.  
  
“Over there...” Luz said, pointing to a chair with Amity’s uniform and undergarments leaning next to a door to a bathroom. Amity practically tumbled out of bed to grab her clothing and lock herself into the bathroom before Luz could say another word.  
  
Panting, Amity pulled off the gown and began to pull on her clothing. As she changed, her head began to ache, and her hands shook to the point of being unable to even put her belt on properly. “What’s happening to me...” Amity thought, tears welling up in fear. “I have to get home...”  
  
Amity was about to button her tunic up before freezing, looking at herself in the bathroom mirror. She moved a hand to her chest, where her already pale skin was showing a large pure white blotch on her left breast area, with pinkish-red blister-looking parts of skin there.  
  
“W-what...” Amity whispered as she touched the spot. Almost instantly, her chest began to burn, and the blisters began to swell. She let out a pained cry before collapsing against the wall with a thud. Luz burst into the bathroom to see a half dressed Amity lying against the wall, hand on the strange chest spot.   
  
“Amity...” Luz whispered, coming over to get a closer look. She moved Amity’s hand from her chest, before gasping at what she saw. “S-stay here! I’ll get help!”  
  
Luz quickly got up to hurry out of the bathroom, with Amity weakly reaching for Luz. “N-no...” she whispered. “D-don’t leave me...”  
  
But Luz was gone, having disappeared from the room while calling for a healer. Amity began to breathe erratically, clutching her hand as she huddled up against the bathroom wall. Her chest began to hurt even more, and her eyesight began to blur drastically before going black.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apologies if this chapter's a bit confusing, I tried to be cryptic but it's something I suck at. 
> 
> Next chapter: Luz and her friends meets Odalia, Lilith continues her research, and Amity hatches a scheme to get more coffee.
> 
> Comments & feedback are always welcome.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

\-  _ the next morning _ \- 

Amity unconscious lay in bed, with two nurses tending to her with potions and spells. Odalia Blight and her two siblings walked through the hall of the clinic, with Emira and Edric exchanging nervous glances, and Odalia with a frown on her face.

“Hey, mom...we are letting Amity rest here, right? The doctors here said that she was-” Edric said.

“No. We’ll take her back home, she can recover there,” Odalia said. Though she didn’t seem very concerned for her youngest daughter’s health.

Emira scoffed quietly at Odalia’s tone. “Gee, way to sound like a mother, mom,” she muttered to herself. Luckily, the older woman didn’t seem to notice.

Outside of Amity’s room, Luz, Willow, and Gus were waiting and watching as the few nurses that were there tended to Amity. “I never knew how bad it was...I was wondering why I was seeing Amity less and less these past few days,” Willow said.

Gus was silent, just watching sadly. One of the nurses came out to address Luz and her friends, holding a clipboard. “Your friend’s heart is weakening,” she said. “But her bile sac seems to be enhanced, producing bile with a high particle count.”

“I’m guessing particles means magic stuff?” Luz asked.

“Yes,” the nurse said. “The magic in your friend appears to be...extremely strong. But her bile sac membrane is weakened, and her heart seems to be undergoing some infection with her skin cells being affected as well.”

“Wait, so her heart is weaker, but her magic is stronger? At the same time?” Willow asked.

“Yes. It’s a bit confusing,” the nurse said. “We’d like to keep her here for continued treatment and investigation, as to make sure she’s not going to come down with something fatal. I hope you spoke to her parents about this.”

“N-no, we moved her here as soon as possible. Her brother went to tell her mom, and-”

“Excuse me!”

The four turned to see Emira and Edric arriving, alongside their taller and more noble mother between them. Her hair was the same shade of dark green as the twins, and she had a few wrinkles on her face. She wore some expensive dress and had her hair tied in a fancy braid, which only served to highlight the pompous way she walked.

“I am Odalia Blight. What’s this with my daughter being in this place?” Odalia demanded, her tone showing exactly what she thought of this place.

Luckily for all of them, the nurse was patient. “Your daughter has some health problems, with some kind of infection having made its way into her heart. We need to keep her here for further treatment, but-” she attemptd to explain.

“How ridiculous! My daughter has no infection, she’s been fine for the past few months,” Odalia interrupted haughtily, which made Luz’s fist shake and clench. Willow quickly grabbed Luz’s hand in an effort to calm her down. Emira and Edric rolled their eyes and headed to the window to check on their baby sister, watching with worry.

“I apologize, but as you can see,” the nurse said, gesturing to the bed. “She’s extremely pale and malnourished. Her heart rate is lower than average, but her blood pressure is higher than normal. We just had to feed her potions to calm them down, but she needs to get plenty of rest and nutrients, under the care of licensed doctors and nurses. I can assure you, we are doing everything we can to-”

“I’m sorry, but do you see me buying what you are saying? I’ll be paying for her treatment bill, and I’ll be bringing my daughter home with me and hr siblings now. What she needs is to be aroud family right now, and-” Odalia said snootily.

“What she needs is the chance to get some sleep!” Luz said as she stepped forward, finally getting involved. “She was barely able to stay awake!”

Odalia raised an eyebrow before her face morphed into a disgusted frown. “Oh, you must be the human my children talk about. The...the criminal’s apprentice,” she said. "Why is a nobody like you here, you should be arrested and petrified."

“Actually, she and the Owl Lady have been pardoned for the past few days,” Willow spoke up, before Odalia’s eyes fell on the plant track student.

“You...the weakling. What are you doing here?” Odalia asked, easily recognizing Willow from many years ago.

“She’s Amity’s friend. And so is Gus and I,” Luz said.

“Well, she doesn’t need  _ friends  _ holding her back ,” Odalia said as she tossed her braid over her shoulder. “She has her studies, which she’d been doing well in until recently. Now I know the cause of her grades slipping.”

Luz  _ snarled _ . “It’s because she hasn’t been eating, she hasn’t been sleeping, I mean look at her!” she cried, her anger mixing with distress. “Haven’t you seen her? She’s pale! She could barely stand, her chest has an infection! And all you care about is if she looks smart or something?”

Odalia growled and raised a hand up to strike Luz before Emira ran over and grabbed her mother’s arm. “Mother, we’re in a clinic. You can’t do that here,” she said, defending her sister’s best friends.

Odalia sighed before clasping her hands together in a professional manner. “I apologize. That was rather unprofessional of me,” she said. By her expression, behavior, and tone of voice, everyone around them could tell she didn’t mean a single  _ letter _ of that apology.

Luz narrowed her eyes before scoffing and looking away. Normally, she didn't explode like that. But to her, this was a very justifiable exception.  The nurse, however, just seemed glad that the yelling was over and done with. “She has to stay here for further treatment,” she reiterated her earlier statement as she hung the clipboard next to the door. “We will send daily updates on her condition, don’t worry.”

“Actually, I believe she can be released into our custody,” a familiar voice said.

Everyone turned to see Lilith Clawthorne walking over. “Hello, Luz,” she said warmly.

“Hey Lily,” Luz said, smiling a bit.

“You? You’re a disgraced traitor!” Odalia spat, her earlier professional behavior thrown right out the window. “What makes you think my daughter would be able to go with you rather than her own mother?”

“While I may not be the grand commander of the Emperor’s Coven anymore, my sister and I have been pardoned of all crimes. Plus, while I may not be a famed commander of the Emperor's Coven, I am still a licensed professional and verified user of all forms of magic, including healing and potions. Plus...she is still my apprentice,” Lilith said, maintaining a professional facade, with a smirk well hidden under her facial expressions. “I believe your track at Hexside was only Abominations, Odalia.”

Odalia sputtered indignantly as Lilith made her way to the nurse. “I believe the child may be released with me,” the Clawthorne sister said.

“I’m sorry, but a doctor must verify the release, and we still need to confirm the child’s health,” the nurse said.

“I come to realize that. But from what I understand,” Lilith said as she looked to the clipboard on the door, which listed the patient’s name, her symptoms, and treatment plans. “The main issues with her health are fatigue and this mysterious infection. She can easily acquire rest at the Owl House. And I have been working on a treatment plan for this infection for quite some time now.”

“What?” Luz, Willow, and Gus said in surprise.

“You have?” the nurse asked.

“Yes,” Lilith said. “Luz here has informed me of the changes within Amity’s behavior and physical appearance quite some time ago, and I have been researching on it to see what I could do to assist in this manner.” She turned to Luz and shot her a hidden wink, which surprised the three young students.

“I see,” the nurse said. “Well, it’s clear you have been working on a cure, and you are professional and licensed.” Odalia was red with rage now, and Edric and Emira were stifling laughs behind their mother’s back. “I believe we could release Amity into your care once verified. But she'll need to stay another hour or so for a final checkup, and a proper diagnosis of her situation. As far as I know, this case hasn't been seen before.”

Odalia knew there was nothing she could do about it, since threatening or bribing the nurse or the clinic would only set a bad image on her, as well as lower her chances of having Amity back with her. Sighing, she looked down. “Yes, I...wholeheartedly agree,” she said, spitefully glaring at the ex-Coven member.

Lilith smiled. “Of course, Mrs. Blight. Good day to you,” she said as the nurse passed her to get the paperwork. Luz, however, was scratching her head. “ _ I’m not sure how the Boneless Isles work...but this is new, _ ” she thought to herself.

“Mmm...”

Everyone turned to see Amity slowly waking up through the window to her room. “Where am I?” she whispered as she opened her eyes.

Luz’s own eyes widened as she made her way to the door and opened it, hurrying into the room with Willow and Gus hot on her tail. Odalia was about to enter when Emira and Edric stopped her to talk, much to her growing irritation.

“Luz?” Amity whispered. “I...what happened?”

“You passed out...” Luz said. “Your heart has some kind of infection...it hasn’t done anything to you yet, but we’re worried.”

“Yeah. You were really out of it,” Gus said, having not said a word for the past few minutes. “Your ex-witch mentor or teacher said you could go home with her. The ex-Coven leader.”

“Wait...what?”Amity asked, more confused than anything as she looked to the three practically crammed next to the bed she lay on.

“Lilith talked to the nurse. You could come rest at the Owl House while we make a cure,” Luz said. “Please? You need the rest,” she said.

“Lilith? Wait, b-but all the upcoming exams, the work I-I need to get done, the-” Amity protested.

“Principal Bump already postponed your exams so you could recover,” Willow explained, cutting off Amity’s ranting line of thougt. “Come on, don’t you work yourself to the bone already?”

“Yeah,” Luz said, grabbing Amity’s hand. “Please? We could do fun things together, it’ll help clear your mind and focus on recovering.”

Amity’s cheeks burned bright red at the skin contact. She didn’t see her mother fuming as she slowly nodded. “O-OK. I trust you...” she said.

Lilith and a nurse took this time to intervene, entering the room with Lilith sporting a kind smile on her face. “Of course,” she said. “Now Miss Blight, if you would follow me.”

Amity spared a passing glance at Odalia and her siblings, and flinched at the furious glare that she received from her mother.

\- _an hour later at the Owl House_ \- 

“Hoot hoot! Welcome home you guys-” a familiar high pitched annoying house demon’s voice chirped before getting interrupted by a hand clamping its beak shut.

Lilith held a finger to her lips before gesturing to the super pale Amity that Luz and Willow were helping off of Lilith’s palisman staff. “We need it quiet, she’s very sick,” she said.

Hooty sighed. “Fine...hoot,” he said as he opened the door for them to walk inside. After helping Amity on the couch, Luz sat on her right on the couch.

Lilith went over to Luz and Amity. “Your sister is currently out at the Night Market right now,” she said, her irritated tone showing just what she thought of her sister’s actions. “I’ll go over my research over Amity’s conditions. I trust you’ll be able to keep her health problems under watch?”

“Yep!” she said. Lilith nodded and left to go upstairs, with Luz sitting next to Amity on the couch. “Hey, are you sure you’re OK?” Luz asked as Amity coughed. Immediately, she scooted over a bit closer to Amity, her ears and cheeks burning red in embarrassment. “Do you have the flu, or a cold, or-”

“Flu? I don’t know what that is...and I don’t feel very cold,” Amity said as she leaned back on the couch, remembering the ‘montage’ Luz and the others had with her after the Grudgby ball match a while back. “ _ I sat right here...next to Luz... _ ” she thought to herself.

Luz smiled before shaking her head. “Do you feel super sick, like super watery eyes, itchiness, the need to sneeze so much your nose fills with snot and it just overflows?” she asked.

“To be honest...” Amity said before looking down at her crossed legs. “I’m just not that tired...”

“ _ I just really drink get some of your coffee and go back t studying... _ ” Amity thought, feeling her hands shake nervously.

“Hmmm...makes sense, you did just wake up not too long ago,” Luz said before her eyes widened. “You still need to eat, who knows when was the last time you ate something! I can make you a sandwich, no wait, a steak! I don’t know how to make proper asada, but it’s just frying right?”

“Luz!” Amity croaked. “A sandwich would be fine...” she reassured, smiling at her antics. Luz grinned brightly before throwing a hand to her head in a horizontal cut and hurrying off.

Amity raised an eyebrow at what she just did. “That was a salute,” a familiar voice said. Looking to her left was a certain adorable demon king curled up lazily in a ball.

“A what?” Amity asked.

“A salute. She didn’t explain it but she always does it instead of saying ‘got it’ or ‘OK’,” King said before yawning and looking to Amity. “I still haven’t forgiven you for what you did.”

“What...what I did?” Amity asked, confused. King shot up on his two legs, pointing dramatically at Amity which did surprise her quite a bit.

“You squished my cupcake at the Covention! And for that you must die!” he pointed out, and Amity remembered.

“Oh...I’m sorry about that,” Amity said quietly, which made King lower his arm. “I was a jerk and a horrible witch and...why did you bring it up just now?”

“Huh? Oh, I just remembered you did that,” King said before stretching and plopping on the couch with a lazy * _ poof _ *. “You’re forgiven, you may continue to live,” the adorable demon said.

“Umm...thanks,” Amity said, confused, before subconsciously reaching over to start petting the little demon, who looked to Amity with narrowed eyes. “Sorry, should I not have-”

“No, it's fine...I’m just in a bad mood,” King said as he flopped lazily. “Luz still wouldn’t let me have any coffee, and it’s been a long time!”

Coffee.

Amity’s heart pounded at the word. She suddenly remembered this was where Luz lived, and that there really was bound to be her supply of coffee here. She didn’t know how much she’d needed it, but right now, coffee sounded about as good as she could imagine.

Looking to King, she felt her brain work for a way she could get some of that coffee. If she could find a way to make her own, or make something that could imitate its effects, she’d be able to properly enhance her studies and improve on all the flaws she’d been making with her grades lately.

But...what about the promise she made to Luz? She said that she needed her to rest, no, she  _ begged _ Amity to rest. Amity knew Luz cared about her a lot, and she couldn’t ever say no with the feelings she held for the human. But for some reason, Amity couldn’t be swayed by Luz’s words.

“ _ Think about the coffee. You could rest later, right now your studies come first. You know how good coffee is for you, you see how you do your magic better than before, and you’re taking proper notes and passing all your tests and quizzes. You know it’s the right thing to do... _ ”

Amity looked back at her hands, before looking down at the small fluffy demon, who was lazily lying on the couch. As Luz’s words faded away, she thought of how King did want to try some of Luz’s coffee. And she wanted some coffee as well.

And with that, any pretense of listening to Luz’s please or the nurse’s orders and recommendations about resting flew out the window instantly. “Hey...King, was it?” Amity asked. “You said you couldn’t get any of that coffee earlier?”

“Yeah?” King asked as he scratched the back of his head with a paw.

“What if I could help you with getting some of this coffee?” she asked. “As a way to...properly make up for stepping on your cupcake during the Covention.”

King’s eyes twitched as he rolled over to face Amity properly. “I’m listening,” he said, his eyes narrow but his tone showing how he was practically already onboard with this idea.

Amity grinned, seeing the goal in her mind slowly come into fruition. “Do you know how Luz makes the coffee?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter: Amity learns just how bad her heart infection is, Luz puts the dots together, and Eda has a hard time.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Another day came and went, with Luz spending the morning catering to Amity’s every need and request. Even when Amity didn’t want anything, Luz would use the puppy eyes tactic to get her to drink another glass of water or eat another piece of fruit. While this didn't bother Amity too much, it meant that she was around often, which made thing awkward for her

Amity literally never felt so pampered before, and it made her feel both loved and guilty. But those feelings were minuscule to the feelings of excitement she had when she was alone. As Luz practically spoon fed Amity, she talked about how she’d fought the emperor himself, to which Amity scolded harshly about how dangerous going against Emperor Belos was, much to Luz’s acceptance. 

Luz’s lack of argument or justification for her actions alone surprised her, and she figured Eda or Lilith, who she was still reluctant to fully trust, talked some sense into her already. Still, it was fairly unexpected. Then Luz started talking about what happened at the castle. How Lilith revealed that she’d cursed her sister, and nearly killed Luz to get Eda to expend the remainder of her magic, and how she broke into the castle once again to fight Belos and free Eda.

Despite that story, Amity took it relatively well, even though her thoughts on Lilith were now very mixed, feeling both angry at her and respecting her simultaneously, though the former was definitely more stronger than the latter. Though when Luz, Eda, or Lilith wasn’t around, which was not very often, she’d call on King to help her with her coffee heists.

After King told her how the coffee machine worked, mainly filling it with water and pressing a button, she figured out how to get the coffee powder inside the machine. Her first cup was bliss, a feeling of warmth and comfort out of a stressful day.

Her second cup a few hours later felt more like a warm drink on a cold day, just pure happiness and calmness as she sipped the drink. As promised, she also gave King a little coffee, much to his excitement. Luckily, he didn’t seem to guzzle cup after cup down like Amity had expected from his excitement and wanting of coffee earlier. If anything, it was like wanting a cookie before dinner time instead of Amity’s case.

The next two days of rest was hiding coffee sips from Luz or Eda or Lilith, as well as making sure not to give away how much she was drinking. One time yesterday, Viney, Emira, Edric, Willow, and Gus visited her to see her progress. Emira and Edric talked about how their mother was finding ways to bring Amity back home to punish her, though they were sabotaging her plans every chance they could. Viney was giving her own input on how to manage personal health, advice Amity largely forgot hours later.

At one instance, Luz had walked in on Amity, who was trying to sip her mug of coffee at the couch in peace.

“Hey Amity, are you feeling alright?” Luz asked.

“WAAA-I mean...yeah, I’m fine! Totally fine,” Amity said nervously, having slid her mug under the couch in a hurry to hide it from Luz.

“You sure? You still look a bit pale,” Luz said as she sat next to Amity. Amity giggled nervously, blushing upon realizing her less than normally professional schoolgirl laugh.

“Oh, it’s getting better. I’m not as pale as I was before...guess all that sleep and rest is helping,” Amity said, secretly hoping that Luz wouldn’t try and pamper her some more, as much as that made her blush.

“That’s true. I’m just glad you’re getting better...” Luz said, smiling softly. Amity’s cheeks glowed a pinker shade as she looked down. Suddenly, she felt a little guilty for drinking her coffee behind her back, especially a limited supply.

“Hey, Luz...I just wanted to say thanks...for helping me...as difficult as I was to you,” Amity said. She expected some kind of friendly jab, something about how that’s what friends do, or pull a quick and unexpected hug.

Instead, Luz responded with a gentle hand on her shoulder and a surprisingly soft smile. “Anytime, Amity. And...and thanks...for giving me a chance to be your friend,” she said. Amity smiled and settled a hand on top of Luz’s hand. “I’m going to go help Lilith out with some more potions. Hopefully I’ll be able to help her find a cure.”

Amity nodded before looking down. “I don’t feel like anything’s out of the ordinary. Honestly, I have no idea what it is. It just feels itchy every once in a while,” she said, wincing at her little half lie. If anything, it ached and pulsed and made touching her chest very painful, plus it looked rather disgusting.

OK, so not such a little half lie.

Luz blinked. “Well, if it gets itchy, just don’t scratch it. Rub warm water on it, I heard that kinda soothes the itch,” she said. “That’s what my mami did anyway...”

Luz’s smile dropped, and Amity frowned. “OK, lemme ask you this. Are you OK?” Amity asked.

“Yeah, I feel great,” Luz said. “Why do you ask?”

“Luz, you’ve been getting pretty...sad. You don’t laugh as much. You got mad easily at the clinic earlier, and...what happened?” Amity asked.

Luz winced and looked away. “I...I miss home, is all,” she said softly.

“Well...the Owl Lady has the portal right? You could go home and visit if you mis-” Amity said before a noise cut her off. “L-Luz?”

Another sniffle emitted itself from Luz’s throat. “S-sorry, I just...I can’t,” she said.

“Why not?” Amity asked, a bit worried at the human girl’s behavior. “What happened?”

“I...remember the whole rescuing from the emperor thing?” Luz asked.

“Yeah. Which I still think was pretty stupid,” Amity said.

“I didn’t win...he wanted me to hand him the portal to my world in exchange for me saving Eda. So, I gave it to him. Then I blew it up,” Luz said, chuckling quietly. “Pretty smart, right? We both lose...”

“Luz...you...” Amity said in shock and surprise. Luz’s shoulders began to quiver.

“Yeah. That’s me...the i-idiot...who destroyed Eda’s portal and my only way home!” Luz whimpered before Amity swept her up in a hug. The presence of a body pressing against Amity’s body caused her entire chest to flare up in pain, but Amity ignored it for the sake of helping Luz.

“W-why did I do that? I can never see mami again, I can never go home...I always thought I wanted to live in a world like this...but I just want to go home,” Luz sobbed, squeezing Amity in the hug as she cried. “ _ Por qué lo hice... _ ”

Amity just rubbed Luz’s back as she continued to cry into her shoulder. After a few minutes of crying and painful hugging, Amity slowly pulled away.

“I don’t think you’re stupid. You’re brave...and determined...I don’t see that move as a stupid one...I see it as a sacrifice,” Amity said, looking down. “One I could never make.”

She looked back up to Luz. You were willing to give up y-your only way back home, to your family and...that takes a lot. More than you can ever imagine.”

“But you don’t see it as bad? What if you had to do it? Lose your family, your friends,” Luz said. “Wouldn’t you regret it?”

Amity quelled her feelings on her mother and shook her head. “I don’t know...but you shouldn’t regret your choice. Because you did it to help people. And a-as sad as losing your family to that choice is...it’s one you made because you wanted to help,” she said, the words practically falling out of her mouth. “And it’s what I lo-uh, really like about you...”

Luz snorted as she looked down. “Oh, you love that about me, huh?” she asked.

Amity blushed in embarrassment, much to Luz’s further amusement. “W-what I meant was...I...umm...” she said, her ears flushing brightly. “ _ Why couldn’t you just be dumb and oblivious like before? _ ” she thought nervously.

She froze completely when she felt a pair of lips brush her cheek. “Thank you, Amity,” she said quietly. “I doubt I’ll ever stop feeling bad for destroying the portal but...I have a lot to think about.”

Amity didn’t even acknowledge these words as Luz left. She was still reeling from the kiss that Luz gave her. “ _ Does Luz like me? _ ” she thought. “ _ N-no, that was probably a friendly kiss...Luz does like to be affectionate a lot. Maybe it didn’t mean anything... _ ”

“So...”

Amity looked down to see King having completely guzzled the coffee Amity hid under the couch. “What were you talking about earlier?”

Amity frowned at the little demon and her empty mug before sighing. “Nothing important if you weren’t listening,” she said. King let out a “meh” before rolling back under the couch with the mug.

When Lilith came down a few minutes later to conduct some tests a few hours later, Amity looked away. After what Luz told her, she wasn’t sure what to think of her former mentor.

“Pleaase remove your shirt,” Lilith said. “I’d like to check your state of health to continue researching a way to cure you.”

Amity reluctantly did, setting her shirt and undergarment aside only for the both of them to see the pure white and cracked skin and blisters growing to her entire chest and torso, while slowly making its way to her shoulders and collar.

“Oh dear, this appears to be getting worse. Perhaps it’s time we did some tests,” Lilith said. She reached out a hand to Amity, who flinched when her hand touched her shoulder. “Amity, what’s wrong?”

“S-sorry. Nothing’s wrong, I promise,” she said quickly, too quickly to be beliveable.

“Amity, does it hurt when I touch them?” Lilith said.

“A-a little itchy and uncomfortable, nothing painFUL-” Amity said before yelping once Lilith brushed a finger across a particularly red mark on Amity’s collar. “S-sorry, I-”

“Amity, please don’t lie to me,” Lilith said tiredly. “I’ll be checking your organs and blood pressure, please hold out your arms.”

Amity held out her arms as Lilith began tracing a blue potion on her wrists, arms, and forearms. Amity shivered slightly as the cold liquid was spread from her arms to her shoulders, to her chest and torso. Lilith took a few little papers with some sort of healing glyphs on them, pressing them evenly into her skin, before the lines glowed with the papers dissolving into the potion. The potion on her arms began to glow, and her veins were outlined in a pale white, revealing every blood vessel where the potion was traced.

“S-sorry for all the issue,” Amity whispered. “Luz told me how you were researching into what was wrong with me a long time ago...I don’t wanna cause you any trouble...”

“Yes, Luz informed me of your personal health problems...mainly the sleep deprivation and your deteriorating behavior,” Lilith said before frowning. “No doubt due to Odalia’s influence. And don’t worry about trouble, I’m more than glad to help my appre-former apprentice.”

Amity nearly spoke out to defend her mother before falling silent. She winced as Lilith traced a green secondary potion, also very cold across her chest. Taking another paper glyph, she pressed it into her chest, also glowing and dissolving. Her heartbeat was suddenly louder, and she could feel her bile sac pulse. “This feels...weird,” she said.

“Yes. It’ll allow me to manually detect any anomalies, without magic. Especially since...” Lilith said. It was then that Amity noticed her mismatched eyes and her streak of silver hair over her right ear.

“What happened, Miss Clawthorne?” Amity whispered.

Lilith sighed. “I’m sure you’ve no doubt heard about what happened in the Emperor’s Castle. With Edalyn’s rescue and our pardoning,” she said. “I...removed some of her curse.”

“What do you mean?” Amity asked.

“I shared it. We’re both half cursed,” Lilith said. “It won’t make up for everything I did...but I’m hoping to change some things for the better.”

“I heard what you did to Luz. When you captured the Owl Lady,” Amity said. “I can’t forgive you for that.”

Lilith’s eyebrows furrowed, sadness overtaking her expression. “I wouldn’t expect any less. Nor should I deserve it,” she said. “Your heart rate is irregular. But your bile sac is enlarged...ten or twelve percent.”

Amity didn’t know what to say, looking down as the potions worked their magic. “I see,” Amity said. “Any ideas?”

“Hmmm...I may have a potential solution...most likely a temporary one,” Lilith said. “I’ll be right back.”

She got up to hurry upstairs, and Amity slowly got up, before making her way to the kitchen. As she powered on the coffee machine, she anxiously waited for the water to heat. Despite only using it a few times, she was fairly familiar with using the human made machine.

If only it didn’t take so long.

“Amity?”

Amity yelped and covered her potion covered chest with her arms immediately. “Luz!“ she cried. “What are you doing?!”

“Lilith asked me to keep an eye on you,” Luz said, turning away from the half naked Amity. “Why are you using the coffee machine?”

“I-I was just heating some water...for these blisters?” Amity said.

“But why would you use the coffee machine? Why wouldn’t you just get the hot water...wait. How do you know what the coffee machine does?” Luz asked.

Amity began to sweat profusely. Luz’s eyes narrowed until she saw the bag of coffee powder next to the machine, significantly smaller than before.

“Amity, you’ve been drinking coffee?!” she cried. “You know that stuff keeps you awake!”

“You don’t get it,” Amity cried. “I have to drink it, it’s the only way I can properly manage my schedule!”

“What schedule? You have to rest!” Luz argued, coming over and shutting off the machine, much to Amity’s dismay. “Lilith is still working on a cure and you’re making it more difficult for her when-“

She stopped when she got a good look at how much of Amity’s skin had changed, despite her embarrassment. “You...how long have you been drinking it?”

“I...not too much,” Amity said, trying to avoid specifics, before Luz pried her arms apart and pulled her close, their noses pressing together. 

“How. Long.”

Amity whimpered. “S-Since I got here,” she croaked, unable to lie to the girl. She was scary when she wanted to be. 

“And you...somehow...and you...“ Luz said before gasping, in a way that made Amity’s skin crawl. “No.”

Amity blinked. “What?” she asked.

“The coffee!! It’s doing this!” Luz cried. “I have to tell Lilith!”

“Luz, wait!” Amity cried as Luz turned to run up the stairs.

“Amity, she has to know, she could heal you!” Luz said.

“You don’t know what you’re doing, you could-“ Amity protested, leaping and grabbing Luz by the hem of her hooded shirt, accidentally pulling her down to the floor. 

Luz cried out as she hit her head on the floor with a thud. Amity gasped in horror as she scrambled to Luz’s side. “Luz? Luz!”

Luz was quiet, eyes closed as her head lolled to the side. Pressing a hand frantically to Luz’s chest, Amity was relieved to see she was alive.

Then her relief gave way to fear. She’d hurt Luz, she would definitely hate her now. She needed to run, find her parents and accept whatever punishment they had for her. It was what she deserved Anyways for being such a horrible person.

Running to the couch, she yanked on her bra and her shirt, frantically hurrying before-

“Amity!”

Lilith had arrived downstairs to investigate the loud noise. Amity stumbled back and held out her arm. “Amity, what happened?” Lilith said as she tried to get closer to her. 

“S-stay back!” Amity cried, tracing a circle in the air. “A-abomination, rise!”

An abomination indeed grew from the floor, before breaking the floorboards, ceiling, and walls near it with its height. It was massive, disproportionate, and terrifying as it was excessively dripping with the abomination slime.

“OW! Hoot!!” Hooty cried as the damage to the house grew. Lilith tried to bring up a spell, which Amity didn’t know what it was, though without even doing anything, the abomination leapt forward and slammed Lilith into the wall. Amity gasped and tried to rush forward before the abomination stopped her.

“Move!” Amity yelled at her abomination who was still blocking her from the others. Amity tried to run forward before seeing Lilith quickly hugging over Luz protectively.

Protecting Luz from her.

Amity’s eyes welled up with tears as she stumbled back in shock. She was the monster. Lilith had to protect Luz from someone like her.

What had she become?

Backing away, she tearfully ran out of the house, ignoring Hooty’s cries of pain as the bird tube tried to investigate what was happening. The abomination growled and followed her, both of them disappearing into the forest.

Lilith’s eyes were wide, her breath shaky as she watched her former apprentice disappear. She was shaken out of her trance as Luz groaned.

“Luz, are you alright?” Lilith asked.

Luz got up on a knee, rubbing her aching head. “The coffee. It’s what’s making Amity sick. And...she keeps drinking it,” she said.

“The coffee? But Edalyn and I didn't feel any of those effects when we drank the coffee. Are you sure?” Lilith asked. 

I’m sure...she’s been drinking coffee for the past few days, and I saw all that...white and red stuff, it’s grown all over her chest,“ Luz said. “Ugh, how could I be so stupid?  _ ¡Soy tan estúpido! _ ”

“Luz, we’ll find her,” Lilith said. “If only Edalyn came home.”

“Where is she?” Luz asked as she slowly got up. “It’s almost nighttime.”

“Luz, hold still,” Lilith said as she put a hand on Luz’s arm in caution. “We have to look at your injury.”

“But Amity’s out there!” Luz protested as she shrugged off Lilith’s hand. “We have to find her right now!”

Before Lilith could say otherwise, a loud screech filled the air, echoing through the empty space before falling silent. “W-what is that?” she asked.

Luz paled. She’d heard that loud roar before. “Eda!” she whispered.

“What?” Lilith asked in surprise.

“That’s Eda...she must’ve transformed on her way back!” Luz said. “Amity’s in danger! Come on!”

After grabbing a bunch of light glyphs from the upstairs room, Luz and Lilith hurried out the door as Hooty stared at the hole in the house. 

“Hoot! Who’s going to fix me?! It’s cold! Hoot!!” Hooty cried after the witch and the human girl, who disappeared into the trees.

“Hooty, stop talking, I’m trying to sleep!” King’s voice rang out from upstairs.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter, Luz and Lilith struggle to rescue Eda and Amity, until the help of someone new arrives.


	7. Author's Note

Real life has been taking a toll on me, so I won't be able to post for the next few days up to a week. Sorry for the long wait, and I hope you've been enjoying this story as much as I enjoy writing it.


	8. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the wait. Chapters from now on will be a bit slow, hope you understand.

Chapter 7

Amity had run for over ten minutes, her abomination right behind her. It was very dark by now, and the large trees were imposing, intimidating. The moonlight was partially covered by the treetops, resulting in Amity crashing and tripping over trees, bushes, and various roots.

She’d only come to a stop when her fatigue became too much for her, tripping over her own feet and collapsing pitifully to the dirt, legs aching painfully and hard. Her abomination attempted to help her up, before being stopped by Amity.

“No. I’m...I’m fine,” she whispered as she hugged her knees together, sniffling. “I just need to rest...”

She immediately leaned back, hitting the grass as the night sky filled her vision past the treetops. Her mutated abomination sat next to her, groaning in concern for its creator. “I’m fine...” Amity whispered again. “I’ll be OK.”

The abomination groaned in reply before getting up, looking around as if scouting around for potential threats. Amity blinked as she registered the abomination move on its own without any sort of orders. “W-wait.”

The abomination turned and headed over to Amity, kneeling to get to her eye level. Amity’s red and teary eyes went wide, a short gasp escaping her throat. “ _ Wait, I didn’t order it to come to me, I just said for it to wait... _ ” she thought to herself as she looked at the large and deformed abomination.

Amity looked down at her hands, which to her horror, were deathly pale and freezing cold, barely feeling them anymore. There weren’t kinds of painful blisters on them, but she was very worried they’d start showing up soon. “I...can you understand me?”

The abomination nodded. Amity cleared her throat. “I...are you worried for me?” she asked.

The living body of slime nodded before pulling her close to him, hugging her tightly. Amity coughed awkwardly as she wriggled slightly, signalling the abomination to let her go.

Amity looked back down. “ _ I...did I make this? A fully intelligent abomination? _ ” she thought to herself. “ _ How did I do this? _ ”

Her thoughts were cut short when an intense scream filled the air, the high pitched screech causing both Amity and her new abomination to perk up nervously. “W-what was that?” Amity whispered.

The abomination moaned in concern, huddling Amity close as it looked around. Amity’s legs quivered, before hearing a snarl somewhere in the forest. Daring to look up, she regretted it instantly.

She just about pissed her pants when she saw the utterly terrifying face of the Owl Beast hanging overhead, sharp teeth hanging over her as it reached for her. Upon hearing Amity’s scream of horror, the abomination snapped into action.

Throwing Amity side, the abomination was tackled by the Owl Beast, which attempted to go for the witchling before the slime creation pulled it back, fighting with it.

\- Elsewhere - 

“Did you hear that? It came from over there!” Luz called as she ran deeper into the woods, Lilith struggling to keep up with the panicked human.

“Luz! Don’t go so fast, you’ll get lost!” she protested before tripping, her long black dress constantly finding its way under her feet, or caught on a tree branch. “Luz, wait for me!”

Luz turned back to quickly assist Lilith back to her feet. “Sorry, but we have to find Amity!” she said. “Hurry up!”

“Luz, running constantly is going to tire us out, plus we don’t even know if we’re going to even find Amity in this direction!” Lilith barked. “Luz, you need to calm down.”

Luz let out a shuddering sigh. “O-OK...sorry...I’m just so worried,” she said. “Eda’s a terrible owl beast, n-no offense to her or you...she’s so hard to beat...I don’t think Amity could handle it.”

“Luz, I understand your concern. Believe me when I say that I want to rescue her as well. She’s still my appre...former apprentice. And in some ways, a daughter,” Lilith said, looking down. “ _ Even if she won’t see me that way anymore, _ ” she added silently in her thoughts.

Luz smiled as she looked down shyly. “Thank you...for helping me,” she said.

Lilith just smiled back, still not completely used to this friendliness from Luz, but glad that she was receiving any kindness and forgiveness at all. Even Edalyn hadn’t fully forgiven her for what she did, but that was to be expected after the stunts she had pulled on her.

But Luz? The innocent human girl she’d nearly murdered to capture her sister? How did she let go of something as drastic and overall horrible-

Lilith clenched her hands. “ _ No...not now...I must be strong. For Edalyn and Amity, _ ” she thought to herself as she got up to properly stand.

_ Rippppp _

Lilith winced as she looked down, looking down at a massive tear going up to her thigh splitting the dress, which had been caught under her own foot. “Edalyn had better appreciate that we’re doing this...” she hissed as she pressed on after Luz, subconsciously pressing a hand to her side when the wind would pick up.

Luz either didn’t notice or didn’t take the time to point it out. After a few minutes of walking, Luz cleared her throat.

“So...your leg. Is your skin usually-”

“Yes. yes I am that pale,” Lilith deadpanned. She felt a twinge of guilt when she saw Luz wince and look down, cheeks red in embarrassment.

“S-sorry, I thought it was lighting and the whole menacing aura-not that you give that out now! I was...well...do you go outside occasionally?” the young human girl said.

The next roaring screech that was heard saved them both as they flinched and went back to running. What made their hearts leap was the very girly scream that came afterwards. “R-right, Amity!” Luz cried as she went back to running.

\- Back in the forest - 

Amity screamed as the Owl Beast threw her back into the tree, crying out as she struck the bark and slid down. Before she could get up, her abomination leapt at the Owl Beast.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, please leave me alone!!” Amity begged as she scrambled away from the struggling and ferally flailing Owl Beast, which was pushing against the abomination in an effort to get to her. Luckily, the abomination threw a slime covered fist at the feral beast, sending it tumbling away and sprawling.

Amity attempted to run to her abomination’s aid, attempting to form a spell circle before the abomination growled. Shaking its head, it pointed to the trees behind her before going back to fighting.

Once again, Amity attempted to fight back, before being forced to fall back when the abomination blocked her, turning into a slime wall to barricade the Owl Beast from Amity.

Amity reluctantly ran, unable to look her abomination in the eye as she abandoned it to its fate. “ _ Why? How did I never see an abomination as more than a servant? _ ” she thought to herself as she ran.

“Am I really leaving it to die?”

Amity let out a sigh of relief as she looked around to see the beast gone. As she bent over to catch her breath, she suddenly felt very sharp claws wrap around her chest and slam her painfully to the ground.

Yelping from more of surprise rather than pain, she found herself staring deep into the black soulless eyes that was the Owl Beast. Her mouth opened into a drooling snarl, seeing the sharp teeth gleam in the moonlight. Amity’s eyes went wide in horror as the Owl Beast seemed to descend on her.

Before unexpectedly screeching loudly and closely to her face. Amity screamed in terror as she immediately shut her eyes, unable to look at her own end. She braced herself as she felt the mouth get ready to snap her up-

“Stay away from her!!”

The beast snarled in pain as a ring of fire struck it, forcing the beast to remove its claw from its victim, freeing Amity and letting her scramble to her feet and run to the trees. She hid behind one to see a hooded figure holding a staff, probably a palisman, unleashing fire ring spells at the beast. These didn’t seem to hurt the beast, but it definitely seemed to stun it.

“Amity!”

“Luz!” Amity whispered as she turned to see where the call had come from. “Luz!!”

“Amity!!” Luz’s voice cried, rushing towards her before a louder roar deafened Amity, drowning out anything else Luz may have yelled.

The beast had thrown the cloaked figure against a tree, before turning to Amity, who was pressed against a tree. “Luz...I wish I told you before all this happened,” she whimpered as she huddled into a ball, unable to look the terrifying monster before her in the eye.

“Amity!!”

The Owl Beast approached Amity, snarling menacingly. An arm went up, claws gleaming in the moonlight.

“Luz...” Amity whispered. “I love you...”

“Amity!!!”

She was tackled to the side as the loud sound of wood crackling and exploding filled the air, followed by another horrifying screech that echoed throughout the forest. Tumbling through the air, she and someone else struck the ground violently, tangled up and rolling on the grass, before slowly coming to a halt.

Luz was on top of Amity, arms and legs wrapped around Amity’s body. “Amity...what were you thinking when you ran off?” she whispered as the screech finally died down.

“I...I don’t know,” Amity blubbered, hysterical tears from her near death experiences streaming down her face. “I was scared, I hurt you, I broke the house, I’m so so so sorry!”

“Amity, it’s OK, it isn’t your fault! We figured out why you keep wanting coffee so bad!” Luz said, shutting Amity up. “The coffee is what’s making you addicteEEEEEEEEEEEEEEDD-” she tried to explain before a large hand grabbed Luz by the ankle, hurling her violently into the air and sending her cartwheeling into a tree with a loud earsplitting “crack”.

“Luz!!” Amity wailed as the cloaked figure threw himself between Amity and the beast, conjuring up another spell circle and sending another fire blast towards the beast, sending it back a few feet.

“W-who’re you?” Amity croaked as she looked up. The figure looked down at her before throwing back his hood, revealing his face to the grounded witchling.

“Father?!” she cried in shock, upon seeing the familiar face before her. “What’re you doing here?!”

“No time, Amity. Get to safety!” Alador called before creating a barrier spell, deflecting a claw attack from the beast. “Go!” he ordered, as Amity crawled away towards a nearby tree.

Lilith ran over and reached into her dress pocket, pulling out a light glyph from inside and slamming it on her left hand. Sliding to a stop, she looked up at the Owl Beast, who stopped attacking Alador’s defense and turned to jump into the air to launch her own attack on Lilith.

Lilith slammed the light glyph with her right hand, clapping it and activating the glyph. The moment she removed her hands from each other, the paper exploded, creating a brief but super intense flash of light. The horrifying creature was hopelessly blinded, clawing at its eyes as Alador pushed back the Owl Beast with another spell, Lilith pulling out another glyph to assist him.

Luz groaned as she stumbled out of the trees, eyes rolling comically. “Dizzy...world is spinning...” she groaned before shaking her head. “Amity...where...Amity!”

As Alador and Lilith struggled against the beast, Luz stumbled over to Amity, who was sitting frozen against the tree, watching her father and her former mentor battle the monster. “This is all my fault,” she mumbled incoherently. “I did this...I did this...”

Luz limped to Amity, collapsing next to her. “Amity, are you OK?” she said, digging through her pockets. “OK, umm...I haven’t fully mastered anything to do with healing spells but I can try. Let’s see...”

“Luz...” Amity said, making the human girl stop. “Why’re you trying to help me?”

Luz gaped like a fish out of the water. “B-because you’re hurt! You’re super pale now, you look like a vampire! You’re sick, and...and injured and sad and it’s because of me!!” she cried.

“Luz...how could you say that? How is this your fault?” Amity whispered.

“I gave you the coffee...I kept giving it to you...” Luz said. “I turned you into this...”

Amity shook her head. “N-no! We had no idea that would happen!” she cried. “I...I kept lying to you...” she said. “I promised you I’d get some sleep but...”

Luz giggled sadly before pressing her forehead to Amity’s. “Let’s just say it’s both our faults...” she said. “And your mom’s. No offense, but your mom’s so mean.  _ Qué perra. _ ”

“Y-yeah,” Amity whispered, blushing. She didn’t know what Luz said, but judging by Luz’s blush after that statement, it was probably best she didn’t know what it was. Her train of thought was cut off when she heard a loud screech.

Turning around, she saw the beast gone, as Eda slumped to the ground unconscious. “W-wait, that was Eda?” she said.

“Yeah. You never saw the Owl Beast before?” Luz said.

“That was the Owl Beast? I only saw fangs, and eyes, and claws and...huh...” Amity said. Luz just sighed and hugged Amity.

“I’m so glad you’re OK...we can go back home and make a cure. We can finally heal you...” Luz said, breaking the hug to hold Amity’s pale hands. “I...I know we can.”

Amity nodded, sniffling. “I-OK...” she said. “But first, what is my father doing here?”

“Your dad? He was already fighting Eda when Lily and I arrived,” Luz said, ignoring a “Please don’t call me that” from Lilith. Amity and Luz turned to see the older Blight adult walk over, his cloak a bit torn and scuffed.

“Yes, well...I suppose I do owe you an explanation,” Alador said. “But first, we should get you home.”

“I’m not going back yet,” Amity began to say before Alador held up a hand.

“I know. I was referring to the Owl Lady’s house,” he said. Amity gaped in blank thought before Luz helped her up.

“Don’t worry...he doesn’t seem like your mom,” Luz said as she scooped up Amity in her arms. Amity squealed and blushed when she realized she was being held bridal style again.

Alador chuckled as he brushed some dirt off the shoulder of his cloak. “Come on. We should get out before anything else comes and attacks us,” he said.

Lilith looked around, having slung the unconscious Eda over her shoulder. “We just need to figure out where the Owl House is,” she said.

At that moment, a loud sound distantly assaulted their eardrums.  “ _ Hoot! Where’s Lily and Luz?! Hoot! It’s cold! I have a hole in my wall! Hoot! _ ” The group was completely silent as they heard the voice echo quietly over their heads.

“...that works,” Luz said. “Let’s just follow Hooty’s voice. Hopefully he won’t shut up until we get there.”

“Knowing that infernal house demon, he won’t shut up nevertheless,” Lilith sighed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not good at writing battles, or emotional content during those battles, so I'm sorry if it was awkward or dissatisfactory to read.


	9. Pause Notice

Sorry for the second author's note, and the lack of a new chapter. Finals week has been stressing me out and I've been unable to find time to work on the chapter. I've made some progress on it, but it's been slow. I promise I'll get back to this story as soon as possible. Thanks and again, sorry.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 8

\- Owl House: upstairs bedroom or nest room - 

Eda groaned, waking up tiredly as she felt her eyelids twitch involuntarily. “Ugh...” she mumbled as she lazily wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. “What happened?”

“Eda? You’re awake!” a familiar voice cried. Eda felt something hop on her stomach, forcing her breath out of her as she woke up. Fully opening her eyes, she saw King sitting atop Eda’s gut, holding a steamy mug in his little claws. “Are you OK? What happened?” the adorable demon king said.

“Uhh...I was heading back from the night market when I passed out...” Eda said before yawning. “What happened while I was out? And you’d better be honest,” Eda weakly demanded, rubbing her arm.

“Well...you may or may not have attacked Luz and her friend and her friend’s dad and your sister in the middle of the forest. Also Hooty has a giant hole in the kitchen,” King said.

Eda went deathly pale, her body having gone as still as a statue of stone. “Great...please tell me the kids are fine,” she said.

“They’re OK,” King said, making Eda sigh in relief. “That cupcake smashing girl is being healed right now, and Hooty promised to shut up if we get him repaired by tomorrow morning.”

“Tomorrow morning? But it’s past midnight! Please tell me you actually have some way to do it without lying? Because I still don’t have my magic,” Eda said, eyes wide in panic. King could understand the Owl Lady’s fear. No one wanted to hear Hooty complain all night.

“Yeah, the new guy offered to repair the house for free after saving his kid,” King said before taking a sip of his mug. “Also he and Lilith are old pals.”

“Wait...what?” Eda said, everything King just said slowly sinking in. “Who?”

“Umm...the mean cupcake smasher girl’s dad. The girl that her older brother and sister call Mittens?” King said.

“Oh. Her dad? What’s he doin’ here...” Eda grumbled as she tried to get up. “I don’t like this.”

“W-wait!” King said, planting his feet on Eda’s gut, which didn’t hurt her too much given that he was pretty light. “Luz ordered me to keep you in bed!”

Eda sighed. “King, I’m fine.”

\- Owl House: downstairs living room - 

Amity looked away awkwardly as her ex mentor Lilith and her father Alador stared at the glowing paste all over her body. The pale white of her infected skin had completely enveloped her top half minus the head, and spread down her thighs and halfway dwn her legs. The ugly red blisters, however, stayed at her torso, arms, and upper thighs.

“Alright,” Lilith said, pressing glyphs to Amity’s body and watching as the paste slowly dried away into air, leaving the skin as if it were never there at all. “You may get dressed again,” Lilith said.

“S-so, did you find out what it was?” Amity asked as she quickly pulled her tunic on.

“Your skin was dying,” Lilith said. “They’re not dead completely, but their nerves and overall cells were just...losing oxygen. Your heart appears to be shriveled up. But your bile sac is also seemingly bloated. As if it were producing too much bile.”

“And you’re certain this...coffee is the cause of it?” Alador asked in concern.

“Yes, it’s the only possible explanation,” Lilith said as she dug through her notebooks, flipping the pages as she skimmed through what she wrote.

“W-wait! When you came and found me being attacked by the Owl Beast-I-I mean Eda...did you happen to see an abomination?” Amity asked nervously.

“No. Why?” Alador asked curiously, tilting his head.

“Ummm...remember when I summoned one? And I ran out the back door?” Amity asked, wincing at the uncomfortable memory.

Lilith sighed as she flipped through the next page, which had somewhat messy illustrations of . “Yes, your creation broke down the entire wall in the process. Why?” she asked.

“Well...it may or may not have been...intelligent?” Amity squeaked. Alador’s eyebrows shot up curiously, as Lilith tensed.

“An intelligent abomination? Only very high skilled magic users can accomplish such a feat. Are you sure?” Lilith said.

“Yeah. It did a lot of things I didn’t ask. Made sure I was OK, hugged me, protected me...it told me to run...” Amity said.

“It talked?!” Lilith gasped.

“No, but it pointed...” Amity said. “I just wanted to know if...”

“I’m sorry, daughter. But we didn’t come across any abomination. Perhaps it was...” Alador said, falling silent at the somber expression his daughter held.

“I see...” Amity muttered. Looking down, she sighed. “Well, I suppose that’s another thing to look into.”

“If you’re able to create intelligent abominations, then perhaps you’re growing much more in strength than before,” Alador said. “Still, it seems a bit...unnatural, if I’m thinking about it.”

Lilith nodded. “Well, we should be prioritizing your recovery. I’ve already applied a potion that could help slow down the infections on your body, thanks to the human-” she said before Amity cleared her throat. “I mean Luz. Sorry.”

Amity looked away, rubbing her arm slowly. It didn’t hurt, but she still felt those nasty blisters to some degree. “Where is Luz?”

Alador looked down awkwardly. “She’s...been taking it hard,” he said. “She’s in her room with your siblings.”

Amity blinked in surprise. “What? Why’re Edric and Emira here?” she asked as she slowly sat up straighter.

“They came on their own,” Alador explained. “They were worried sick and said they wanted to visit you when you weren’t currently being worked on. Plus they’re comforting Luz right now.”

Amity sighed. “Yeah...she must be so mad at me right now,” she whispered shamefully as she looked away.

Alador put a hand on his daughter’s shoulder. “Not exactly,” he said. Amity raised an eyebrow in response.

\- in Luz’s room - 

Edric and Emira watched tiredly as Luz kept pacing back and forth in the room. It had been several minutes since they arrived, and they were supposed to keep Luz occupied as Amity recovered, but that was proving to be harder than originally anticipated.

“Luz, how could you know what coffee did to witches? If I recall, you said it was a human beverage,” Emira said to the pacing Luz.

“Because I should’ve been more careful!” Luz cried. “I didn’t take into account that witch bodies are different from human bodies! Similar but different! Lilith found out that it was infecting her bile sac and...UGHHHH!!”

Luz flopped on the floor with a muffled thump as Emira shrugged to Edric. “Look, how could you have known?” Edric asked as he stood up and made his way to Luz sitting next to her. “You only gave it to her because she needed it. You were only trying to help Mittens, that’s all.”

“And I kept giving it! I turned Amity into some...junkie!” Luz fired back, her hands clutching her face, groaning in shame and tiredness.

“A...a what?” Emira asked, raising an eyebrow in confusion at Luz’s word choice. Though given how Luz said it, it was likely that it was more of a human term.

“A junkie. Someone who gets addicted to drugs and their body is messed up...and I’m Amity’s drug dealer!” Luz wailed as she rolled around the room. “She’s gonna hate me so much when she gets better...”

“Luz, Amity would never hate you. You do know how much she lo-I mean cares about you, right?” Emira asked.

“You don’t get it. I hurt her!” Luz cried. Her voice was scratchy, and Edric winced as she moved her hands away from her face. Her eyes were red, and her cheeks were stained with tear trails.

“Luz, I don’t think you understand how Mittens works,” Emira said. “Knowing her, being the ’good girl’ that she is, she’ll take the blame for all of it.”

“She...what?” Luz asked, wiping her face and noisily sniffling.

“Amity always said you would never hurt anyone. She talked about how you were strange, how a a witch would never be as kind and considerate as a human like you was,” Emira explained. “Knowing her, she’d definitely think she was taking advantage of you.”

“Only because she was addicted!” Luz pointed out. “If I recall, she had urges! Urges I gave her!”

“Unknowingly!” Edric said. “I may be the dumb twin, but even I know you wouldn’t intentionally do something like that.”

Luz looked away. “That’s no excuse...” she said.

Edric fought the urge to pound the floor in frustration as Emira sighed. “Look...” she said. “Just...trust us when we say that she won’t hold it against you.”

Luz didn’t say anything back for a while, and Edric got up, dusting himself off. “Come on, let’s get you cleaned up. Then you can check on Amity,” he said. He and Emira helped Luz to the bathroom, where she would rinse her face and wipe her nose clean of any snot.

As they went downstairs, they saw Alador and Lilith off to the side, while Amity held a cup of something. Luz winced and looked away once she saw the cup. Amity looked up to see Luz, and her breath hitched.

“Hey Mittens,” Emira said. “Miss us?”

Amity looked down. “Why are you here?” she asked. She wasn’t demanding or rude like all the times before, rather somber and depressed. Emira looked at Edric in concern, and he took it as his cue to speak up.

“We were worried...how did you keep yourself in school with all that...stuff on your body?” Edric asked.

“Well...I just hid it. Long sleeves, the occasional illusion spell...” Amity whispered. “Not really much to it.”

“Amity, I...I’m so sorry,” Luz said, butting in and speaking before she lost the nerve to do so. “I swear to all that is holy on the Boiling Isles that I had no idea that coffee would do something so terrible to you.”

“Wait, what?” Amity asked.

“If I’d known I was...that I was poisoning you, I would’ve stopped, I would’ve done something to help! But I was...was still infecting you with that...stuff...” Luz stuttered, as she began to shake. Alador and Lilith watched in worry as Luz began to break down.

Amity, however, panicked. “N-no, Luz!” she cried, getting up and setting her cup down before quickly moving to get to Luz. Alador flinched as Amity collapsed to the floor, before getting back up and crawling to the human.

Luz practically went limp when Amity reached her, being pulled down to Amity’s tightly hugging arms. “It was my fault. I should’ve told you how I was being changed...but I wanted more...I don’t know how, but I didn’t feel like myself...I hurt you earlier just to get to that stuff.”

“Because I gave it,” Luz said. “I’m sorry...”

“Luz...you were only trying to help me...I was the one who took advantage of that,” Amity reassured. “If there’s any blame here, it’s mine...”

“And mom,” Edric chimed in. “You only turned to Luz’s coffee stuff on a regular basis because she kept forcing you to pull all nighters, right?”

Luz’s expression went from sorrowful to pure hatred in a split second. “Your mom...that bitch!” she snarled. Everyone in the room flinched at Luz’s sudden turn of emotions. “Your mom did all this. She didn’t give a damn about your health or your happiness, as long as you got a perfect score that she wanted! I’m going to-”

“Luz!” Amity cried, tightening her grip on Luz’s arm. “Don’t do anything, please! If you go after my mom, she’ll make your life a nightmare!”

“Do you think I care? What kind of mom do you have if she puts her own image over the lives of her kids?!” Luz cried. “My mom may misunderstand me, but she wouldn’t risk my life over that!”

“But your mom and my mom are different! Please...just get that this is how noble families are...” Amity said. “Higher standings come with higher requirements...”

“Well, it looks like all those requirements are thrown down to you. Why’re you defending her anyway?” Luz asked.

“Hey, Luz...” Emira said. “There’s not much we can do about it anyways. We get to make our own decisions when we’re old enough to be considered adults. Which is when we turn 20.”

“Amity has another six years?” Luz said in horror. “I don’t get it, why is everyone OK with all of this?!”

“We’re not,” Alador said, before Luz whirled on him.

“You’re Amity’s dad. Did you choose to go along with this? Did you let you let Amity suffer like this?!” Luz cried out.

“Luz!” Amity cried. Alador held up his hand in response before sighing.

“Yes. I did,” Alador said. “I take responsibility for how she was treated.”

Luz glared at the older man, waiting for more words. Alador rubbed his eyes as he walked over to Luz. “I am at the same fault as my wife. But please know that I’m trying to make things right. I don’t have any excuse for my complacency, but I hope to make things better. For my entire family, for Amity.”

Luz kept the glare up before sighing. “Well...I believe everyone deserves a second chance...plus Amity never says anything about you, so I guess that means you didn’t do much.”

“Hmm?” Emira asked.

Luz looked back down to Amity, who was looking between her crush and her dad nervously. “I don’t know anything about you,” Luz said, looking back up to Alador, before smiling. “But I can tell you’re trying to help...”

Amity sighed in relief. She’d forgotten just how nice Luz was, even to people she knew didn’t deserve such kindness. Luz looked down to Amity and helped her to her feet. “So...what now?” she asked as she leaned on Luz.

“We'll worry about that once you’re done healing,” Luz said.

“Actually, whatever Lilith and dad whipped up did the trick,” Amity said as she leaned lightly on Luz. “I feel better, plus my skin is clear already. I just feel a it...tired...”

Amity pulled up her sleeve to show Luz that her skin was now spotless, a normal skin tone and lacking any painful blisters. Luz’s eyes sparkled. “Ohh, that’s so cool! What is that, super healing?”

“I think it has to do with the bile sac. Bile also holds some of effect with the immune system, which is why witches who practice their magic and endurance to said magic well don’t get sick very often,” Amity explained.

Luz’s awestruck expression made Amity smile and blush, both with shyness and pride. “Wow...can you teach me more about this stuff?” the human girl said, grabbing Amity’s hand as she leaned forward. Amity’s smile immediately dropped, while her blush glowed brighter tenfold.

“Not just yet.”

The six occupants of the room turned to see Eda up and about, with King nestled in her hair. “I think we still have to pay your mom a visit,” the Owl Lady said, her palisman in hand and a stern expression on her face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next: Odalia is confronted.


End file.
